Finally Found a Girl You Couldn't Impress
by ItalianChick88
Summary: Vittoria De Luca is a reporter with a little problem. She's curious, bold, and independent. What happens when this independent girl does a story on the oh so attractive Josef Kostan? Throw in some drama, humor, crime, and a bit of romance. Josef/OC.
1. Intro

My first fan-fiction on this wonderful website, so please do not murder me for my newbie-ness:)

You read the summary (hopefully). Vittoria De Luca is an independent vampire who reports on crime and other scandalous things. When rumors start to fly about the city's heartthrob Josef Kostan, how far will Vittoria go to get this story? Thrown in some drama, a dash of action, humor, a bit of romance and you'll get a mess of emotions right in front of you. Josef/OC

**Disclaimer: I, unfortuneally, do NOT own Moonlight or any other characters except Vittoria and those random people you meet thoughout the chapters. 3 **

* * *

Blood. An essential to all life, whether or not you use it the moral way.

The brunette hurried down the crowded city sidewalk, keeping close to the canopies near the shops. People saw her, but never for more than a moment's glance before she was gone, passing the people up ahead of them.

Normally, this brunette would have been cautious enough to bring her car, but her car was at the shop, currently getting the engine looked at. Her destination wasn't that far away, but already the sun was giving her a headache, which would explain her sudden change in pace.

Finally, the brunette saw the darkened shop at the corner. Without a second glance, she swept herself into the shop, the only sound being detected was the small, average ding of the bell attached to the door.

"Hello?" a voice came from the darkness. There was some small, dainty candles lined up across where the curtains covered the large windows.

"Hello Baron," the brunette said, her feminine voice sounding much more fragile compared to the deep voice of this Baron.

A man in what would appear to be his mid-forties came around the counter, peering into the candle light to show this costumer's face. "Ah, I figured I would be seeing you soon. How may I help you, my love?"

The brunette contained her annoyance at the pet name she was given before responding. "I need more blood and I need it quickly. I have to get to work. Whatever you got is fine."

The man, Baron, sighed. "So impatience. Would you like it now or shipped?"

"Give me a glass now and ship the rest. This sunlight is killing me."

Baron suddenly had a glass filled nearly to the brim of the crimson liquid, as if he never left his place at all. The brunette tried to drink it as quickly as she could without looking savage.

"How big is this story that you cannot appreciate the taste of your blood?" he chuckled, earning himself a hard look for the brunette as she drained the glass.

"No story yet, although I'm hoping for something good today. I'm having trouble attempting to be interested in our mayor's raging hormones. How much do I owe you?" she said, fishing though her purse for her wallet.

"No scandalous details for an old friend? Vittoria, I am wounded," Baron said disappointedly. The brunette tried to hide the rare, quick flashed smile that was threatening to appear on her face.

"This should be enough," the brunette, now known as Vittoria, said, handing him a couple of folded bills. "Nice to see you, Baron."

"Until next time, my love," he said as she disappeared for the shop just as quickly as she came in.

Vittoria De Luca, who we referred to as the brunette, caught the door on her way into the office. She was grateful that she had stocked up on her blood supply. The weather in Los Angles was never a pleasant experience, especially when the temperature was taking an new high.

"Vittoria, may I have a word with you?" a middle aged woman said as soon as she walked into the office. Her hair was piled up on top of her head, sealed with a pencil. She was wearing a knee-length skirt and a thin cotton blouse, obviously she was suffering from the intense heat.

Without speaking, Vittoria followed the woman into her office, which was stacked high with papers and other miscellaneous items.

"First, your story about the mayor's affair was good, but the affair makes it seem tabloid trashy. On the plus side, I have two new leads for you to take," the woman said, taking a seat in her worn out, oddly colored chair.

"Shoot."

"There's evidence about the city's taxes. Apparently, they are being involved in some scandal. I want you to check it out unless it looks like a dead trail. Also, there was a college student found dead," she said, looking though heavy files for something.

"What's the COD?" Vittoria asked, a bit more interested in the dead body than the tax scandal that could be going on.

"Not sure yet. Body's just been called in. I want you there _now_," she said, stressing the "now".

Vittoria left her office without another word, already sensing that this day was going to long.


	2. A Replacement Case

I'm just trying to get a couple chapters up today so you'll get the feel of this plot.

Please Read&Review!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any other characters except Vittoria and those random ones you'll see in later chapters.**

* * *

Pulling up to the scene of the crime, Vittoria found herself wishing she had chosen to live in a less populated city. Curious crowds hovered around the yellow tape while other reporters harassed the officers for a word.

Vittoria, unlike the other reporters, was much better at persuading the officers. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed a number that had become familiar to her over the past years and waited for the other line to pick up.

"Officer Reese," a male voice spoke.

"Hey, Officer Reese. Can you give me anything?" Vittoria said, crossing her fingers, just in case.

He sighed. "Remind me why I give you these scoops, if you will."

"Because I know what you are and I also lie to your wife about where you go on Fridays. Details."

Another long sigh. "Melissa Stone, age 20. Has been going to the local university until her friend phoned in that she's been out for two days. We got the call at about 4:30 in the morning that a body was found in the parking lot of this local club these kids go to. COD is unknown as of right now, but there was blood. It looked liked blunt-force trauma but we couldn't find the weapon on the scene. No witnesses that we know of and no security around the parking lot."

"Was it a vampire?" Vittoria asked, looking out the window.

"Hard to tell. When we went inside to ask questions, I could smell the presence of at least five. The parking lot has the scent but I can't figure out if it's because of the murder or if it's a place to be at night," Officer Reese explained.

"But the victim was human, right?" she asked, disappointment flashed on her face.

"As human as ever. This could just be a normal drunken murder but there has been activity here," Officer Reese continued.

"Any leads?"

"We got some of Melissa's friends down at the station. Hopefully we'll get something out of them but, as of now, we are at a blank."

"You'll update me on any new leads, won't you?" Vittoria said, already knowing the answer.

"I always do, don't I? I wouldn't worry your little head off, though. There's nothing suggesting that she was killed by one of them. It's probably a drunken murder."

"Alright, I'll probably swing by to check it out myself later today. Just give the night guard the warning. Thanks Samuel," she said, using the officer's first name.

"Anytime."

Back at the office, Vittoria found herself being put off the tax scandal story.

"Why am I off what you said could be, and I quote, 'the story of the century, or at least the decade'?" she questioned, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Because I've found a better story for you," the woman, Lisa, said with a smug look on her tired face.

Vittoria raised an eyebrow, a bit more interested now. "What's it about?"

Lisa leaned in, as if to amp the dramatic effect. "What would you say if I told you that the man of our city has a record of being involved in false charities?"

She rolled her eyes. "A charity case?"

"I know, I know: the story sucks. But, culprit is one of the biggest names in this _state._ An interview or story on him would boost our ratings up _big time_," Lisa said, her smug look never fading.

"And this 'culprit' would be?…" Vittoria asked, already annoyed that this case, if you could call it that, was being put on her shoulders.

Lisa grinned. "Josef Kostan."


	3. Nighttime Strangers

Vittoria closed her apartment door behind her, bored out of her mind from today's events. As if a drunken murder case wasn't bad enough, she also had to attempt to make an interview with Josef Kostan.

Josef Kostan was a big-shot in Los Angles. All the girls swooned and fell at his feet, whether it be for his money or his looks. He was rich, cocky, and oh so attractive.

As if his attitude and reputation wasn't bad enough, it was nearly impossible to get an interview with him. This would explain why Lisa decided that Vittoria would be the best to work this case. Helping herself to a glass of what read A+, she sat down on her sofa.

"How the _hell _am I suppose to get an interview with Josef Kostan?" she muttered to herself.

Letting her mind wonder for a few minutes, she remembered that there was still a crime scene to look at. Although the case showed no interest to her, at least it would give her something to do.

* * *

Vittoria slipped under the crime scene tape, grinning at the sleeping officer. He would receive hell for that later. She walked though the parking lot, occasionally stepping over numbered cards and crime scene tape.

There was vampire scent in this parking lot, but not enough to peg it as a vampire murder. She walked until she arrived at the body spot, noting the blood stains on the concrete lot.

Officer Reese was right: this was probably just a drunken murder. Somewhat disappointed, Vittoria turned around to walk out of the crime scene when she ran into someone, surprisingly.

"What the hell?!" she said, jumping back. There usually wasn't random people standing behind her at crime scenes.

"Who are you?" the someone, man judging by the voice, asked.

"I should be asking the same thing," Vittoria said, eyeing the stranger.

She heard him inhale deeply. "Vampire? Well, that makes two of us."

"Surprised?" she asked, still having a hard time making out his face.

"I guess I shouldn't be," the vampire said guiltily. "I'm Mick St. John."

"Vittoria De Luca. So what brings you to this place?"

"I'm a private investigator. I haven't met too many reporters who visit their crime scenes at night," he commented, obviously remembering the name.

"Yes, but you've met some which means it's probably not as strange as it seems," she said, shifting her weight merely for her own comfort.

"You sound like someone I know," he said, a slight smile forming on his face.

Vittoria raised an eyebrow. "I take it as a compliment?"

"You should. Back to the point, why are you here?" Mick said, a slight smile still lingering on his face.

"I'm a reporter. I'm _reporting. _Why are you here?"

"I'm a private investigator. I'm _investigating,_" he said, mimicking her response.

Vittoria flashed a smile. "A funny guy? As we can both see, this case isn't involving either of us. No vampire action, no need for us. Right?"

"Yeah, I should probably get going. Josef's probably gonna kill me if I don't show up tonight," Mick said, mumbling the last sentence to himself. Vittoria snapped to attention, clearly interested.

"Josef? As in Josef Kostan?" she asked, hoping that Mick St. John could help her out.

"Uh, yeah. I've worked with him before," he said, awkwardly.

"Can I ask a favor?"

"Depends on the favor."

"Get me an interview with him," Vittoria said, continuing before Mick could have a chance to speak, "and no I am not some fan girl. I just need a story so my boss can get off my ass about this. You would save me a lot of trouble."

"Well, Josef doesn't really like reporters," he said, shifting his own weight, "I mean, chances are he won't. He likes to keep to himself."

"Either say yes or no," she said, impatient.

"What do I get if I say yes?"

"I'll send your girlfriend flowers."

"I don't have a girlfriend," he said, a brief blush flashing across his face. This intrigued her more than it should have.

"What's her name?" Vittoria asked, enjoying his nervousness and embarrassment with this situation.

"Why are we having this convocation again?" he interrupted, clearly annoyed by her curiousity.

"Just get me the interview and I'll stop."

"Fine, I'll get you the damn interview."

"Thank you," Vittoria said, her faith in strangers regaining. She gave him her card before the two went their separate ways.

"I owe you, officer," she whispered to the sleeping cop before disappearing into the night.


	4. Grabbing the Interview

Mick St. John dialed Josef's number, remembering his encounter with the persuasive reporter. He was somewhat ashamed of himself that he let his personal life get in the way and even more embarrassed that Beth had been the topic of discussion.

"_Mick! You're still going to come over, right? Course you are. It's poker night."_

"Yeah, I'm on my way there. First, I need to ask you a favor."

"_That favor would be…? Personal favor? Advice? Shoulder to cry on? Place to dump a body?"_

Mick rolled his eyes. "I need you to do an interview with someone."

Pause. _"For the love of all that is living, what did you do?"_

"Just do the interview with the reporter. For me?" Mick said, hoping that for some unknown reason he'd accept. But that, unfortuneally, wasn't Josef.

"_I don't like reporters, especially ones that you set up to interview me. Who's the lucky contestant? Better yet, how'd you get suckered into this said favor?"_

"Her name's Vittoria De Luca, heard of her?"

"_That's a pretty Italian name, just saying. I've seen her once or twice. She's not that bad looking."_

"She needs an interview with you," Mick explained, rolling his eyes at his friend's shallowness.

"_What does she want to interview about? Please tell me you at least found out why! For all we could know, she could stake me the moment she steps foot into my office!"_

Mick sighed. "How much would I owe you if you went though with this?"

Another pause. _"You'd owe me about twenty favors and an explanation of why you agreed to this."_

"She's very… persuasive. She also brought up Beth…"

"_She threatened to kill Beth? Or she brought Beth into the convocation and you got all mushy and soft and agreed to this?"_

Mick coughed nervously. "So, er, we got an agreement?"

Sigh. _"Fine but if she kills me, I'm gonna haunt your ass."_

* * *

Vittoria De Luca woke up the next morning by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She opened the lid to her freezer and grabbed her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Mick St. John. You truly owe me," he said, sounding like he hadn't slept all night.

"You got me the interview? I owe you big time, when is it?" Vittoria asked, hoping out of her freezer and into the lukewarm feeling of her apartment.

"3 o'clock this afternoon at his office. It's all set up."

"Mick, I swear to God, I could kiss you right now if your girlfriend wouldn't get pissed off," she said, searching for a pair of jeans.

An annoyed sigh came from the other line. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"I'll help you out with the lady. What's her name, again?" she asked, struggling to slip her leg though the correct pant leg and hold her cell phone at the same time.

"I'll tell you her name but don't help. Really, we're just friends," Mick said, his tone of voice changing ever so slightly, like he's rehearsed that line.

"Oh, stuck in that phase. Name?"

"Beth Turner."

"I think I know her. Blond, curious, reporter?"

Mick let out a chuckle. "That could be her. I have to go. You owe me."

"I know, I know."

Vittoria finally managed to get herself into her jeans before looking for a shirt to wear. She grabbed a white crochet back top and a thick, brown and gold belt. She grabbed her bag, making sure she had her phone with her, and slipped on a pair of brown and gold high heels.

She looked at the clock in her kitchen. Noon.

"Did I really sleep in that long?" she asked herself, grabbing a glass and filling it with A+. Drinking it as fast as she could without choking on it, she drained the glass and hurried out of her apartment, locking the doors behind her.

* * *

"Lisa, I demand a raise," Vittoria said, walking into her boss's office.

Lisa raised her eyes? "Why?"

"Because I got your damn interview."

Pause. "You seriously did?! Vittoria De Luca, you are a freakin' _goddess _in disguise!"

"Yeah, I know. It's at 3 o'clock this afternoon. I'll do the interview but then I want a raise for my efforts," she said. True, she didn't really need the money but it wouldn't hurt to have the extra.

"Done," Lisa said, still incredibly pleased with Vittoria. "Now, if you don't mind, please get out of my office and get that damn interview!"


	5. On or Off the Record?

"Good afternoon, Ms. How can I help you," the over worked secretary asked as Vittoria arrived at the famous Josef Kostan's office.

"I'm Vittoria De Luca. I have an appointment," she said, secretly praying to some god that Mick wasn't lying. His fate would then result in a slow and painful death.

The secretary flipped though she papers before looking back up at the reporter. "Ah, yes. Ms. De Luca, Mr. Kostan is expecting you. He should be ready in a few minutes."

Vittoria walked over to one of the open chairs and sat down, crossing her legs. Just go over the basics, she thought to herself. Just do the damn interview and get out.

Inhaling the air around her, she found the noticeable vampire scent lingering around the lobby. Did Josef Kostan have vampire clients? Or was Josef Kostan, the biggest name in the city, a vampire?

"Just my luck," Vittoria muttered much too low for the secretary to hear.

That would explain why Mick, a private investigator, would know him. Vittoria was a bit curious to know why Josef Kostan would have a PI as a friend, but it kind of plays out now.

All she had to do was ask some questions, write the answers down, and get out of there with her dignity and her life. Hopefully, Josef Kostan wasn't as cocky and arrogant as they all said he was. Vittoria didn't care how many charities he donates to.

"Ms. De Luca?" the secretary said, peering over at the brunette. "Mr. Kostan will now see you."

_Be confident. _"Thank you."

* * *

Josef Kostan sat in his office, awaiting the arrival of the reporter that Mick owed a favor. He was somewhat disappointed and ashamed in his friend. This is why he doesn't like to mingle with humans. Was this reporter woman human? He had forgot to ask Mick when he had called last night. Three soft knocks interrupted his thought process, signaling that the lady of the hour was here.

"Come in," he said, spinning a bit in his chair before coming to a complete stop before she could see him.

And the lady of the hour she was.

She was very attractive, at least she probably was in human eyes. She had a paler complexion but Josef couldn't tell if it was because of the lighting or not. Her hair, a mixture of brown and a faint hint of red, fell to the middle of her back, resting in natural curls. She had hazel eyes, a perfect split of brown and green.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kostan," she said. This surprised him. Her tone was tired and, if he heard correctly, a little bit annoyed. Like she was forcing herself to be polite and do this interview.

_She can't act like this, _he thought to himself. _This was how I was suppose to act during this interview._

"Good afternoon, Ms. De Luca," Josef responded merely out of politeness. "Have a seat."

_Didn't Mick say that this woman really needed this interview? _he thought to himself once again. _She looks like she'd take a bullet to the brain before talk to me. _

Taking a deep breath, he noticed something strange. A new scent, vampire but new. It certainly wasn't one of his business deals before. He looked at the woman who took the seat across from him. She inhaled and flashed her eyes over him quickly before she quickly exhaled.

A faint smile appeared on Josef Kostan's face. "I see we share more in common than I thought."

"May we start the interview?" Ms. De Luca said, cutting off whatever question was forming on the tip of his tongue. What was her first name again? Something Italian.

"I am aloud to as questions as well?" Josef asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Truthfully, he was amused at her. And annoyed.

"You may ask, but I can choose not to answer," she said, boldly. More amusement and that twinge of annoyance.

"What was your first name again?" he asked, brushing off her hard look.

She sighed. "Vittoria."

"Victoria?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Vittoria. Two t's."

_Interesting. _"Not many people spell it that way."

"Most people don't spell Josef with an f," Vittoria shot back, clearly annoyed. He was just as cocky as everyone had warned her. Lisa better worship her after this is done.

"So, Vittoria," Josef said, letting her name roll off of his tongue, "how long ago was it since you were changed? A hundred years, give or take?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Vittoria said, rolling her eyes. It was all she could do to keep her from attempting to murder this annoyance.

A grin began to form on his oh-so attractive face at her growing annoyance. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Did you know that three out of ten of your latest charities have all been fake?" she asked, thankful that he was at least somewhat serious.

"Yes, but the other seven were all real and we've helped tons of people. Next," he said, brushing off that question just as he had done to the other reporters. He tried to fight off a smirk as he watched her fume with anger before him.

"What ever happened to the makers of those three fake charities, Mr. Kostan?" Vittoria asked, almost though clenched teeth.

"On the record or off the record?"

"On the record."

"They fled the country."

Vittoria raised an eyebrow. "And off the record…?"

"Their bodies can be found somewhere in the Pacific ocean."

"Is that how you eliminate your problems, Mr. Kostan? Just snap their necks?" Vittoria asked. Although, she should have guessed that he would do something like that.

"Depends on the person," he said, shrugging innocently. "Any other questions?"

If it was anyone else, she would have had a billion more questions but right now she was ready to strangle him and it had only been twenty minutes. She'd just have to bullshit the rest of the interview.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Kostan," Vittoria forced herself to say. She was ready to sprint out of the door when the same over worked secretary entered the room.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there's a woman on the phone for you, Ms. De Luca."

"Excuse me," she muttered before hurrying out of the room to get this phone call. Josef smirked at her disappearing figure before noting that she left her purse on her chair. Chances were that she'd probably come back for it later, but that later could be a while.

Wallet, ID, cash, pen, paper, cell phone. Cell phone, that's it. He scrolled though the phone, scribbling down the number before putting it back into her bag and returning to his seat as she entered the room.

"As I was saying," she started, grabbing her purse, "thank you for the interview, Mr. Kostan."

"It was a pleasure, Ms. De Luca."

With that, she left the office as quickly as she could. Normally, Josef would have been annoyed at her desperate escape, but he couldn't just help but laugh at the digits he had written on a spare piece of paper.

She amused him. He'd be seeing more of her very soon.


	6. A Package for Ms De Luca

Vittoria De Luca was about ten seconds away from draining someone, preferably male, dry.

It wasn't even like they had spoke for more than twenty minutes! That interview of a _lifetime _couldn't have lasted for more than fifteen minutes and Vittoria was ready to stake him. He was just… something else. He didn't act outrageously cocky or insanely arrogant but he was just so… amused. He was actually _enjoying _her rising annoyance and _that _is what pissed her off.

Lisa was going to kill her when she arrived back at the office for blowing that interview but that was the last thing, and she really meant the last, thing on her mind right now. He was just Josef Kostan and he knew it.

The worst part of that interview was the unusual sensation that shot though her body every time she locked eyes on him. He was attractive, she could give him that, but it was his eyes. He stared at her like she was standing naked before, and it felt like she was. Not that she liked him. Of course not, he's the most cocky man on the planet, or at least that's what she's _heard. _He might be insanely attractive, but there was no way she'd ever go out of her way to catch his eye. At least the damn interview was over and she could push him out of her life for good.

_I refuse to be attracted to someone like Josef Kostan, _Vittoria though bitterly to herself. _The last thing I need in my life is a man, especially one as big-time as him. I need blood._

Rather than going back to her office like she normally would have, she found herself heading back home, grateful that her car was back from the shop. The sun was blazing outside and it hurt even in her car. The ride home was short, only because Vittoria found it hard to keep her foot off of the gas.

"Stupid, rich, attractive man," she mumbled, closing the door to her apartment. She normally would have put her bag somewhere rather than in the middle of the floor but she needed blood before she killed the neighbors one by one.

After two glasses of A+, Vittoria found herself cooling off. It truly was silly that she was acting this pissed off at something as pointless as a cocky man, but that's why she was so pissed off. How is it that he somehow managed to annoy her to the point of possible murder?

Vittoria sat down on her sofa, exhausted with today's events, even though it was only four o'clock in the afternoon. She prayed to whatever god that was out there, that Lisa would _not _stake her the moment she stepped foot in the building tomorrow.

* * *

"_Vittoria De Luca!" _

The sound of a shrilled, terribly high pitched voice rang though Vittoria's ears literally the moment she stepped foot into the building. She didn't even have time to brace herself for the torment that she'd have to endure all because of Josef Kostan and his smartass-ness.

"Lisa, let me expla----" Vittoria began to say, preparing to beg for mercy, when Lisa appeared looking… _thrilled?_

"You! You are truly wonderful! Magnificent! I don't know what I would do without you! Josef Kostan's interview was successful! More than successful! It was excellent, divine! Vittoria De Luca, you are amazing!" Lisa began to gush out compliment after compliment.

Vittoria found herself more confused than ever. Successful? That was truly the last thing she'd call that interview. In all honesty, it was hard to call that an actual interview. She asked three questions at the most; that hardly classifies as an interview, especially a successful one. It was more like failure, disappointed, terrible. Any of those adjectives could sum up that "interview" in a nutshell.

_What the hell is she talking about? _She thought to herself. _I haven't even told her about it yet. Did I accidently email her something? _

Lisa raised an eyebrow at her dazed reporter. "Hello? Vittoria! Are you listening to me?"

"Oh, er, sorry. What did you say?" she said, somewhat embarrassed.

"I said that you got a package in your office," Lisa said, sighing for the pained effect.

_A package? _"Oh, okay. Well, I guess I'll talk to you later."

Vittoria nearly sprinted into her office and then nearly died when she saw what her "package" was.

"I am going to _murder _him."


	7. Inner Kindness

Josef Kostan sat in his chair, spinning around in it a bit. It was all he could do to pass the time of this dull morning. He didn't have anything planned for today and, since Mick and his other buddies were busy, he found himself in his office.

_I wonder where Mick is, _he thought to himself, trying to pass the time. _Maybe he has a case... nah, he's probably just off with Beth. I wonder if he finally got the stones to tell her how he feels... God, I hope he does and I really hope she feels the same. Not only because Mick's my friend but mostly because I can't stand hearing him complain and be all heartbroken._

"_Sir?" _his secretary, Brenda, said though the intercom.

Josef planted his feet on the ground, stopping the constant spinning motion he had. "Yes?"

"_There's a very angry woman on line 1. She told me to tell you that, and I quote, if you do not pick up that phone now she will make sure that she kills you herself."_

"I see," Josef said, pondering over that thought for a moment. What angered woman was trying to kill him this week? "Alright, I'll get it."

"_Good luck, sir."_

Josef chuckled to himself momentarily before picking up the black phone on the corner of his desk. "Hello?"

"_Josef Kostan, I do not owe you anything!" _

Brenda was right, this was a very enraged woman he was about to deal with. If it was any other woman he might have felt something other than amusement, but he knew this voice and tone well enough that he had trouble not being amused. He knew it would be only a matter of time before he heard from Ms. Vittoria De Luca.

"Can't last a day without talking to me? And, as I remember, you should owe me something. How's your boss?" he replied, fueling the fire. He should know better, but that hasn't stopped him before.

"_She's thrilled with the interview from hell. What did you say to her, better yet, what did you do to make my boss think I'm some savior from heaven?!"_

"Is that gratitude I hear?" Josef said, the slightest of smirks forming on his lips.

"_No, it's rage. Lots and lots of rage."_

He raised an eyebrow. "Really? Not even a bit? Too bad."

"_I'm going to burn you alive soon. I do not owe you anything."_

Josef held back a laugh. "Oh, but I believe you do. After all, I did save your reporting job. Are you really gonna kill the man who saved your career?"

Pause. _"I appreciate what you did but I didn't ask you to so I shouldn't have to 'owe' you anything."_

"But I did anyways, so you should owe me. From the inner kindness that you have deep within your heart."

"_Do I sound like a girl with 'inner kindness'?"_

"You sound like a bundle of joy."

An aggravated sigh could be heard from the other line, causing his smirk to grow. _"Why? Why'd you tell her that 'interview' went well, when it clearly didn't?"_

"I did it out of the inner kindness that I have deep within my heart," Josef said, nearly losing it when he heard her suppressing her annoyance in a form of a strained groan.

"_I see. And the roses along with a note that said "You owe me" was just you being Josef Kostan?"_

"Yes."

"I owe you nothing and I am leaving now."

"I'll call you later if I think of something you could do for me," Josef said, smirking as he heard her muttered curse before she hung up the phone.

Vittoria turned out to be more amusing than he had originally thought. It wasn't that she was just amusing and attractive that made him want to talk to her more often. It was her attitude. She didn't fall at his feet like all the other women he met. Instead, she acted as if she couldn't stand the thought of him.

_Acting, _he thought to himself, _is the key word in that sentence._


	8. Teasing the Tiger

Thank you to Luke's Momma and rungirl60 for their reviews!

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**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the other characters except for Vittoria and those random characters that you meet later on!**

* * *

Vittoria De Luca was, for the second time today, wanting to drain someone dry. She was currently sitting on her sofa, gripping a glass of A+ a little too tightly. She was angered and flustered and somewhat flattered… but mostly angered.

_Josef Kostan is the most indescribable, arrogant, cocky, smooth man! _She thought to herself. _I owe him? I owe him!? There is no way in hell I'm doing something for Josef Kostan!_

Just like the incident with the interview, Vittoria found herself a little ashamed that she was becoming so enraged over something like this. Most people would be amazed that someone would be so mad over something like this, but then again, the people who thought that would have their necks snapped within moments of thinking that.

Vittoria was pulled from her train or rather violent thoughts by the sound of her cell phone ringing. Crossing her fingers, hoping that it wasn't Josef, she answered. "Hello?"

"_Vittoria! I've been trying to get you all day but your line's been busy," _Lisa said, relieved that her favorite reporter was lying dead in an alley.

"Oh, sorry. I was on the phone with a… friend, an old friend," she lied, using the term 'friend' very, _very_ loosely. "What did you want to tell me?"

"_Nothing, I was just going to say that you can have the day off. We're getting a new reporter and we're gonna let her try out tomorrow. Enjoy this beautiful weather! A tan would do you well!" _Lisa said. Right, the beautiful, scorching sun.

"Oh. Thank you, er, Lisa. I'll use it well," Vittoria said, a little thrown off guard. A day off? What is she suppose to do? "Eh, sorry Lisa but I got to go. Thanks again for the day off. Goodbye."

With nothing to distract herself from her earlier convocation with Josef Kostan, Vittoria fell back onto the sofa, really wishing she hadn't woke up this morning.

* * *

Mick St. John grabbed his cell phone and, for the fourth time, dialed his friend's number, hoping that maybe this time he'd have enough sense to pick up. Josef usually didn't miss calls but when he did it was either because he was busy or dead.

"Pick up your damn phone, Josef," Mick mumbled, listening as the rings continued.

"_Hello?"_

Mick sighed. "Josef. Nice of you to finally pick up your phone. I was eighty percent sure you were dead or in the process of being killed."

A laugh came from the other end. _"You sound like a desperate housewife. Or is that a show? Never mind, why'd you call?"_

"I was going to ask how your interview went but I got, er, held up last night and didn't have a chance to ask," Mick explained, recalling last night when Beth unexpectedly arrived at his apartment.

"'_Held up last night'? I am somewhat interested but, as of right now, I want no gory details. I just fed," _Josef said, his voice taking a different tone. Mick was grateful that they were not having this talk in person because he might have had to kill his friend.

"So, how'd that interview go?" Mick asked once again, trying to distract Josef from the previous statement.

"_You never told me she was so… I hate Josef Kostan," _he said, his voice lighter than it had been.

"I had no idea. Did she attempt to kill you?" Mick asked, noting the change in his voice.

"_No, but she amuses me," _Josef said. Mick could just imagine his grin and found himself grinning only a bit.

"I have a feeling she won't want to have anything to do with you."

"_Exactly why it amuses me. She hates me and loses her temper easily."_

Mick rolled his eyes. "Don't tease the tiger, Josef."


	9. The LA Scoop

Thank you for the reviews! I decided to take a suggestion from one of the reviews and make it the start of this chapter.

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**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the other characters except for Vittoria and the lesser ones you might meet in later chapters.**

* * *

Vittoria De Luca woke up the next morning at her usual time, forgetting that she had the day off until she was already up and awake. She changed into a pair of dark wash jeans, pairing it with a floral tank-top with a satin tie-top over it. She slipped on a pair of flats, not really in the mood to risk walking in heels. She dropped her keys back onto the coffee table once she realized that she didn't have anything to do today.

Truthfully, there was nothing to do. She didn't know anyone, vampire wise, that would be free nor did she have any friends. The sun was blazing down today, which made the idea of staying outside for more than ten minutes unbearable. She had blood so there was no reason for her to visit Baron. Vittoria literally had _nothing _to do with her life.

_Screw this, _she thought to herself, not wanting to accept the fact that she has no point in her days. _I'm going to the office._

Grabbing her keys back off the coffee table, Vittoria grabbed her purse and left her apartment in an attempt to prove to herself that she had something to do.

* * *

Beth Turner followed the middle age woman, also known as Lisa and her new boss. Ever since she quit _Buzzwire_, Beth had been finding it hard to keep herself occupied. Mick was avoiding her, or at least it felt like it. She never knew with Mick. He was always changing his mind and confusing her to no possible end.

So, it wasn't surprising that when Beth heard about the opening at _The L.A. Scoop _she was the first to apply for the reporting job. It would be good to do something with her days, especially because it would keep her mind off of Mick St. John.

"I'm glad you applied for this. It's such a relief to have an experienced reporter rather than a stuttering newbie," Lisa, her boss, was going on. Beth snapped out of her short train of thought and tried to look interested in what this woman was talking about. "It's just hard to find a decent, hard-working reporter these days that aren't interested in the latest celebrity gossip."

Lisa stopped walking and, thankfully, Beth was able to pay attention for a split second to stop walking before she ran into her. "Here's your office, I know it's not much but no one's really is. I'll have someone walk you though the building later but, for right now, just get yourself settled."

"Thanks for everything, Lisa," Beth said before she walked away. Taking a deep breath, she sat down in the small area. It wasn't really even a room, more like a cubical for each reporter.

"_What did I tell you about going to work today!? I said you had the day off!"_

Beth heard Lisa say to who ever she was yelling at. Trying not to look too nosy, Beth tried to tune out the other chatter around her to listen.

"_I literally have nothing to do, Lisa. I'm staying or throw me out."_

Lisa let out a long, frustrated sigh. _"Fine."_

Beth turned back around, not wanting to get yelled at for eavesdropping. A few seconds later, a woman sat down in the cubical next to Beth's, tossing her purse to the ground a little too forcefully. Beth assumed that this was the woman she heard arguing with Lisa.

"Oh, hello," the woman said, noticing that the usually empty cubical besides her was now filled with someone. "You're the new girl, right?"

Beth looked up. "Yeah. I used to work at _Buzzwire_ until I quit and came here."

"Well, welcome to the reporting station that sounds like some trashy tabloid," the woman said, a slight grin on her face. "I'm Vittoria De Luca. It's Vittoria, by the way. Not Victoria."

Beth found herself returning the grin. She secretly wondered how many times she had to correct other people. "I'm Beth Turner. Nice to meet you."

Vittoria's expression changed. "Beth Turner?"

"Yeah, have we met before?" Beth asked, confusion clear on her face. She didn't remember meeting any reporters with the name Vittoria.

"No," she responded, "but I've heard of you. You're, er, _friends_ with Mick St. John, right?"

_She knew Mick? _"Yeah, I guess we're friends."

"That's why I remember you," Vittoria said, her grin back again, "Mick talks about you."

"He does?" Beth asked, trying not to sound too interested in what Mick talks about when she's not around.

"Mhm," Vittoria said, trying not to laugh when she remembered that she did, in fact, owe Mick. "That's all he talks about when I see him. Beth this, Beth that. You must be a pretty important friend, Ms. Turner."

Beth blushed, reminding Vittoria that she forgot to have a glass of blood before she came to the office. _Oops. _

"I don't think I'm _that _important…" Beth said, clearly as embarrassed about this subject as Mick was. "So, er, how exactly do you know Mick?"

"Oh, nothing like that," Vittoria said immediately, bring relief to Beth's unknown concern. "He did me a favor… although it, never mind. But don't worry, it wasn't anything like that."

"What favor, if you don't mind me asking," Beth said, adding the end when she saw Vittoria's face drop a bit.

"Normally I wouldn't, but that favor is coming back to haunt me so I'd rather not explain," she said, her tone light despite her words. "So, tell me about yourself. Mick tends to mumble."

* * *

Beth never realized how long it had been since she had a friend she could talk to, well, at least one that wasn't a guy. Vittoria De Luca was something else. She was Italian, hated pop music with a passion, and was addicted to movies.

"Do you want to come over later tonight?" Beth asked when they were getting ready for their lunch break. They had gotten no work done, but they didn't care. "I have every old time movie known to man, even the romantic ones."

Vittoria grinned. "Sure, it's not like I've got guys waiting for me at my door. I'll be there around seven."


	10. Decisions to Make

Sorry for the wait! I've been busy with school and trying to get all my work done before the holiday.

Thank you for the reviews! I'm glad everyone enjoys it so far!

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**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the other characters except for Vittoria and those characters that you don't recognize.**

* * *

Vittoria De Luca drove home as quickly as she could, trying not to think of anything that breathes. A day, in this kind of weather, without blood has really taken a toll on her. It took some resistance not to attack Beth when she accidentally got a paper cut. Although she hadn't killed anyone yet, she didn't want to risk it and she was feeling pretty crappy.

_Could it get any hotter? _she asked herself as she pulled her car into the parking lot and got out, trying to shield herself from the sun's harsh rays. She felt a lot better once she got into her apartment building. Saying a quick, usual hello to the lobby worker, she pushed her floor button and waited for the elevator to take her up.

When she heard the elevator _ping_, she hurried out of the elevator as fast as she could without looking like she was being chased by a mad-man. She opened her door after wrestling with her key, and quickly shut the door and dropped her bag.

After a glass of A+, Vittoria felt much better. Although she felt better, it didn't stop her from helping herself to another glass, right after that one.

_Well, I'm going to be with Beth for a period of time tonight, _she thought, taking a sip. _I don't want to kill her. She seems… normal._

Vittoria finished off that glass before glancing at the clock. It was about six o'clock. She had gotten off of work around four and had to stop by Baron's for more blood. With an hour or so to spare, Vittoria sat down on the sofa, kicking off her shoes. She closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the momentary silence until her phone suddenly rung.

She fished through her purse, emerging with the ringing phone. "Hello?"

"_I know what you can do, in order to return the favor," _a terribly familiar voice said, causing her to almost crush her phone in her hand.

"I don't owe you anything, remember?"

"_Nope," _Josef said, not even pausing to remember, _"so, would you like to know how you can pay me back? Or would you like to live with the guilt of knowing that you didn't help someone in need?"_

"I'll take the guilt," Vittoria responded just as quickly as he did to her last question.

"_Nice try," _he said, his tone a bit lighter and more… amused, _"so, would you like to know or be surprised?"_

Vittoria was silent for a moment, weighing her options. On one hand, she wouldn't know and the 'surprise' could be quite embarrassing. "Just get it over with."

"_I'm hosting a charity event next week, and no this charity is not fake, and I need a date," _Josef responded. If Vittoria was drinking something, she was ninety nine percent sure that she would have spit it out or choked on it.

"And this involves me how?" she managed to choke out, trying very hard to keep her voice even.

"_And here I was thinking that reporters were smart…" _he said, chuckling. He was obviously enjoying making her feel like this, whatever 'this' was.

Vittoria glared at the phone, feeling stupid once she realized that he couldn't see her. "How does this involve me?"

"_Like I said, I need a date and you owe me," _Josef said, probably smirking judging by his tone of voice.

Vittoria tried to think of _something _witty or smartass-y in a moment's notice, so it wouldn't seem like she was actually considering this.

Josef took her silence as a cue to continue. _"It's not the biggest party, all you have to do is show up all jazzed up and act like you like me."_

She bit her lip. "I'll get back to you on that."

"_Alright but just remember, you could either come on your own free will or by force," _Josef said before hanging up. Most people would have been frightened by that last statement, but the way he said it just showed Vittoria that there was obviously a different meaning behind those words. Therefore, she was actually somewhat… excited.

"There must be something wrong with that blood," Vittoria muttered, trying to shake all thoughts of Josef Kostan out of her head. She remembered about Beth and looked at the clock, which reflected 6:30pm. How long was she pondering over this?

She grabbed her bag and quickly put on her shoes before leaving her apartment, trying to focus on _something _else.

* * *

Vittoria arrived at Beth's apartment a little after seven, as her watch told her. She knocked on her door, silently hoping that she had knocked on the correct apartment. A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing Beth.

"Hey, come on in," she said, holding the door open for her. Beth's apartment reflected the outside of Beth; simple, unique, and interesting. Vittoria felt a little out of place in the apartment, but eventually felt that feeling leave.

"I love your apartment," she commented, looking at one of the pictures on the little wooden table. It was of Beth and a man she didn't recognize. "Who's this?"

Beth walked up behind and glanced at the photo. "That was my boyfriend. He was killed a while ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Vittoria said. If she was human, she would have been flushed with embarrassment.

Beth sighed. "It wouldn't have worked out anyways. We had been dating for a year and we still hadn't moved in together."

"Still, it must have been hard," she said, still feeling very embarrassed.

"Well, I've been, uh, distracted for the past couple of months," she said, adding quickly, "With work and all."

"I understand," Vittoria said, using all her will power to not grin. As if bringing up her dead boyfriend wasn't bad enough, grinning would have just been the killer.

"So, can I get you anything?" Beth asked, her voice switching back to its normal tone.

"No thank you, I'm good," she said, knowing that she'd be declining offers like this for quite some time.

"Alright, I'll be right back," Beth said, heading for the kitchen. Vittoria sat down on the sofa as Beth got herself something to drink.

"How's Mick been?" she asked, grinning. She knew that Beth would be annoyed that she asks about him, but she wanted to know how Beth really felt. It was obvious that Mick liked her.

"Oh, er, he's fine, last time I talked to him," Beth said, nervously. "He has been busy, you know, with work and all. I mean, it's understandable and all with this economy…"

Now Beth was rambling, which just made her even more interested in the matter.

"May I ask you a personal question?" Vittoria asked, forgetting her secret approach to the matter.

"Uh, sure," Beth said, returning to the room with a glass of wine in her hand.

"Are you and Mick, you know, together?" she asked, not wanting to laugh at the sight of her face, pure shock.

"No," Beth responded quickly, "I mean, we're just friends. But… no, never mind. We're just friends."

Vittoria knew disappointment flashed on her face. "Oh… alright, I was just curious since he talks about you a lot."

Beth was silent for a moment, having some sort of an inner battle with herself. "What… exactly does he say about me?"

Vittoria could already tell that this was gonna be a long night.


	11. Uncomfortable Encounters

Inspiration for this chapter came from Luke's Mamma who really missed Josef!

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**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any other characters except for Vittoria and the ones you don't recongize.**

* * *

Vittoria De Luca had been around humans for quite a while but never has she been so close to a semi-drunken one. She had seen drunken people before but never stayed long enough to really see them, until today.

"I mean, he was _married_! To some woman who looks like a freakin' _supermodel_!" Beth said, already having one too many glasses of wine.

"Mick was married?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They got divorced, if you could call it that," Beth said, rolling her eyes. "And he said that he didn't have feelings for Coraline--"

"Coraline?"

"The supermodel ex wife."

"Oh, right. Continue."

"-- but he refuses to like me. What kind of guy does that! Girl is single and likes him and the boy just ignores it!" Beth said, taking a rather large sip of her wine.

Vittoria sighed. "Mick's an idiot."

"I know," Beth sighed, "I know. It's just stupid 'cause he trusts me with all his deep, dark secrets yet he can't just see that I like him!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Deep dark secrets? Like what?"

Beth opened her mouth to answer right as the doorbell rang. She put down her glass and walked, or stumbled, to the front door.

_What kind of dark secrets would he tell Beth? _she wondered to herself. _Did he tell her what he was? Oh God, if he told her _that _then he really needs to get the stones to tell her how he feels._

* * *

Beth set down her glass, already knowing that she had too much to drink, before going to answer the door. She tripped on her own foot on her way there, yet another sign that she had too much to drink. Or perhaps she was just overly tipsy.

She opened the front door to reveal, much to her horror, Mick St. John.

"Oh, eh, hi!" Beth said, nervously. Great, just great. The guy she secretly likes will witness her as a drunken mess.

"Hi," Mick said, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Um, I was just gonna stop by and tell you something but, er, if you're busy…"

"No, I'm not busy. What did you need to tell me?" she said, trying to sound sober.

Mick looked nervous, which was new. "Oh, um, well…"

_He was at a lose for words? _Beth thought to herself. _This is really new._

"… I was, have been thinking that maybe, I mean…"

_Just spit it out, just spit it out. _

Whether it was the alcohol or the impatience in Beth, is still unknown to everyone. Faster than anyone could have expected, Beth crashed her lips onto Mick's. Mick was beyond shock yet, the same attraction that caused Beth to kiss him, kissed her back.

Mick, without being a vampire, could smell the alcohol on Beth, yet decided to not pull apart and just go with it, something Josef always told him.

"Hey Beth, who's at the door---"

* * *

Vittoria was getting a bit bored and wondered who Beth was talking to. She didn't want to invade her privacy so she listened as well as she could with human hearing.

She got up and walked out of the living room, half convinced that Beth had past out drunk. "Hey Beth, who's at the door---"

And there they were, shocking Vittoria to the point of fainting, that is, if she could faint. Mick and Beth pulled apart, both a bit winded and surely very embarrassed.

"Oh, well I can see that I am clearly not needed nor welcome here so, I guess I'll talk to you later Beth," Vittoria said, literally putting a hand over to eyes, as if to shield her from their evil doings. She felt around for her purse and grabbed it after hitting her hand on a plant, the table, and a random shoe.

"What are you doing here?" Mick asked her, once he realized that she was too preoccupied with finding her right shoe he turned to Beth. "What is she doing here?"

"Okay, so I guess I was kinda sort busy…" Beth said, trailing off. Vittoria found her right shoe, put it on and somehow maneuvered her way past Beth and Mick, all while having her hand over her eyes.

* * *

Vittoria hurried out into the hallway and uncovered her eyes. That was easily the most awkward moment in her life, well, one of the most awkward moments of her life. She hurried down the hallway and turned the corner, hoping to get to the elevator in case Mick tries to hunt her down.

"Hold the door," she said and was incredibly grateful that who ever was in there was kind enough to hold the door. Of course, she spoke too soon.

"Fancy meeting you here," the one and only Josef Kostan said as she got into the elevator.

"As if today wasn't already annoying enough," she muttered under her breath. "What are you doing here, anyways?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I was looking for Mick after I got a call from him saying that he was gonna tell Beth how he felt. I figured that I'd come and watch the stuttering begin."

"You're too late," she said, leaning against the wall. Why do elevators go so slowly? And why was Beth on the 9th floor? "When I left, I sort of, er, interrupted something."

"You're kidding me," he said, searching her face for any signs of joking. "God damn it. I came all the way here and I missed it."

Vittoria _almost _smiled but forced herself not to. "I wouldn't be too sure. Beth was pretty drunk."

He sighed. "Great, now when he comes back I'll have to listen to the always familiar guilty concerns. 'I shouldn't have kissed her, she was drunk!'"

"At least you did not witness the act," she mumbled, trying to rid her mind of that image. Was she actually having a convocation about Mick and Beth with Josef Kostan? This day has been a pain in the ass.

"Seeing as you have yet to take this small space as a chance to kill me, have you thought about my offer yet?" Josef said, his normal self coming back as if it had never left in the first place.

Vittoria realized that this is probably what he was hoping for all along once she stepped into this elevator. A chance to make her answer.

"I've thought about it but I don't have an answer," she responded, trying to keep her voice as even as she could.

Josef raised an eyebrow, a smirk forming on his lips. "You don't _have _an answer or you don't _want _to answer?"

She bit her lip. "I don't _have _an answer."

As if this was the universe punishing her for drinking human blood and being a vampire, the elevator (the most crappiest one in all of LA) jolted to a stop, causing Vittoria to lose her balance and fall into the arms of the only other person in the damn elevator.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, his smirk had grown to an impossible size within a moment.

"Shut up," she said, trying not to sound as breathless as she really was, "it was the elevator, not me."

"Excuses, excuses," he said, that same damn smirk never fading. It took her only a moment to realize that she was still in his arms but she had a hard time accepting that she'd eventually have to let go… wait, what the hell was she thinking?

"Don't make me kill you," she said as she, half reluntlently, removed herself from his arms. The elevator doors were already open and she exited, followed a bit too closely by Josef.

"Why are you following me?" she asked without thinking.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, darling. I didn't walk here. My car's out in the parking lot."

Vittoria tried not to think about the fact that he had just referred to her as 'darling' as she continued to her car. When her car finally came into view, she was tempted to jump in and lock the doors before speedily driving away.

Thankfully, she had enough common sense to not do that.

She stopped at her car and pulled out her keys when she realized that someone was still standing behind her.

"What do you want?" she asked, turning around and noticed that he was, in fact, much closer than she had imagined.

"Your answer to my offer," he said simply, taking half a step closer to her. Vittoria took half a step back, evidently making it so that she was stuck against her car.

"I told you," she said, as he took another step closer, "I don't have an answer."

"Really?" he asked, invading whatever personal space she had left. "I don't believe you."

"That's too bad," she responded, trying to create some space in between them with no such luck.

Josef smirked. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"I'll say yes if you never bring this up to anyone ever again," Vittoria said, giving in. She wasn't gonna admit to him that he was making her very uncomfortable and very comfortable at the same time.

"Fair enough," he said before turning and walking away, leaving Vittoria at a loss for words.


	12. Awkward Mornings

Vittoria De Luca decided that she'd give Beth a visit. She had about an hour before the two of them were due at _The LA Scoop_ and she wanted to make sure Beth hadn't done anything stupid.

She made sure that she had drank before she came here. The weather wasn't as bad as yesterday but it was still pretty weakening. Vittoria wore a pair of slightly ripped jeans, ankle shoes, and a black tank-top. She knocked on Beth's door and waited.

"Come in," a voice from the other side of the door said. Vittoria opened the unlocked door and revealed Beth laying on the sofa, asleep. In the kitchen, she found Mick St. John.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, startled by her appearance.

Vittoria raised an eyebrow. "I'd ask you the same thing."

"I wasn't gonna leave a drunken Beth home alone," Mick said, looking away from her hazel eyes. More like he wasn't gonna leave Beth home alone, period. Vittoria was half glad that she didn't have any guys... guys she didn't want to _kill _trying to be all protective over here. Total turn off when they over do it, at least in her mind it was.

"So," Vittoria started, taking a seat in one of the open chairs, "are you two lovebirds together?"

"No, we are not together," Mick said in his usual rehearsed voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Right, so I was just imagining things last night?"

"She was drunk, I shouldn't have kissed her back," Mick said, his voice torn between guilt and… well, more guilt.

"Josef was right," she mumbled under her breath before she could stop herself. Her hand flew to her mouth as Mick's head snapped up, a curious look on his face.

"And when exactly did you talk to my dear friend?" Mick asked, his face reflecting what hers had looked like only moments ago.

"After I was blinded but I don't see how it is any of your business," she said, acting just as he had in the start of this convocation.

"Josef's my best friend," Mick pointed out, leaning against the counter, crossing his arms against his chest.

"And Beth's my friend," Vittoria countered, leaning back in her chair. She wondered if Beth was awake right now and was secretly hoping she wasn't. She had yet to explain to her the whole Josef Kostan thing.

Mick frowned. "That reminds me, how exactly did that happen?"

"Well," Vittoria sighed, "when two people have the same common interests they usually become friends."

Mick shot her a look. "I do believe I told you to stay away from her."

"She came on me, I'm the victim here," she responded, wide eyed. Mick was obviously getting annoyed, as it was clearly shown on his face.

"If you hurt her…" Mick warned, getting all defensive.

Vittoria rolled her eyes. "Calm down, if I wanted to kill her I would have done it already. Simple as that. Speaking of killing and Beth, have you told her yet?"

"That I like her?" Mick asked, raising an eyebrow.

She coughed awkwardly. "Er, actually I meant about the whole drinking blood deal but have you told her that yet?"

Mick looked quite flustered and was silent for a moment before he found his voice again. "Yes, she knows."

"Knows that you like her or what you are?"

"What I am," Mick said almost though clenched teeth.

Both of them heard Beth yawn from the other room, signaling that this convocation would be put on pause for a while. Of course, Vittoria had come out with the upper hand. Mick was extremely annoyed and embarrassed at the same time.

"I'm better get going," Mick said as Beth tried to get off the sofa without hurting herself.

Vittoria raised an eyebrow. "Leaving so soon? Don't you want to tell her what happened last night?"

He grabbed his keys and headed towards the door. "I'll leave it up to you."

"Your mistake!" she said as he closed the door. Beth came into the kitchen moments later, holding her head in agony. This must be what the humans call a hangover.

"Mornin' sunshine," she said, grinning as Beth threw her a look. She rummaged though her draw before grabbing a small container of what appeared to be aspirin. Beth walked to a different cabinet and pulled out a plain glass before filling it up at the sink. She popped the pills in her mouth, washing it down with water before turning back to her.

"I feel terrible," she said, sighing.

Vittoria tried to bite back a grin but failed. "And you don't even know what you did last night."

Beth's eyes widened. "Please tell me it wasn't as bad as I'm guessing it was."

"You don't remember?" Vittoria asked, picking at her nails. She didn't want to be the one to tell her but, seeing as Mick ran out, she might as well let her down easy… or, at least as easily as she could.

"It's a bit fuzzy."

Vittoria thought for a moment. "Would you like the 'what Beth wants to here' truth or the flat out truth."

"Flat out truth," Beth responded immediately.

"You kissed Mick."

"What!?" Beth nearly screamed. Beth felt like she made a fool of herself but she didn't think that she would have been stupid enough, drunk or not, to do something like this.

"Well," Vittoria continued, not surprised at Beth's reaction, "kissed is a loose term. What do they call it these days?…Making out? Yeah, that seems to be the correct verb."

"You aren't making this any better!" Beth cried, putting her face in her hands. This was just perfect, just perfect. Mick is probably gonna either act extremely awkward around her or just flat out ignore her.

"I just told you what happened, blame the affects of whatever you were drinking last night," Vittoria said, shrugging. She felt kind of bad for her, but at the same time she was overly glad that at least he knows that Beth feels the same way about him. Now if he would just grow a pair and tell her how he felt, she would feel extremely accomplished.

"Did you stay the whole night?" Beth asked, eyeing her newly changed clothes.

She shook her head. "No, eh, actually Mick stayed, at least until I got here which was about… ten minutes ago."

The look on Beth's face said it all.

"Please, please, _please _tell me that nothing else happened last night," Beth said, putting her head back into her hands.

"I can't tell you that," Vittoria said, leaning up against the counter, "I left after I saw you two making out."

Vittoria tried to ignore her brain as the memories of exactly what happened after she left decided to fill her brain. _No, _she thought to herself. _I will not be thinking about Josef Kostan at a time like this. This is Beth's day to be terribly embarrassed, not mine._

"What time is it?" Beth asked though her hands.

"8:30am. We have about half an hour before we, as the in the both of us, are due at the office."

Beth sighed. "I'm going to go change and perhaps throw up."

She left the room muttering something under her breath that Vittoria chose not to listen to. She found herself grinning at Beth's reaction to, well, everything. She secretly hoped that Mick was going insane and driving Josef crazy… wait, why did she decide to bring up Josef? Better yet, when has she referred to him as Josef?

The loudest and most repetitive question in her mind was why the hell did she decide to accept his offer? In her defense, if there even was any, she was trapped against her own car but that still didn't mean she had to give him exactly what he wanted in the first place. She could have punched him or call the cops or have just flat out said no.

_Why did he have to pick me to annoy?_ Vittoria asked herself. _There are so many other, more willing, women to annoy. Why am I the lucky one?_

"You ready?" Beth asked, startling Vittoria. She had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't see or hear Beth enter the kitchen.

"Yeah, um, would you like a ride?" she asked, grabbing her purse as Beth made her way to the door. Vittoria's mind flashed back to the last time she had seen Beth at the door and mentally cringed.

"If you don't mind, I'd love one," Beth said, locking her door as they left her apartment. They walked down to the elevator, leaving Vittoria feeling the urge to take the stairs. Unfortuneally for her, they were already going down when she remembered what happened in this elevator.

"What did Mick have to say about the matter?" Beth blurted out the question she was _dying _to know.

Vittoria bit her lip, momentarily distracted by the events of what had happened during _her _night. "Oh, well you know Mick. He wouldn't tell anyone except Jo--his best friend."

Vittoria managed to catch herself from blurting out Josef's name. As far as she was aware, Beth didn't know that she knew Josef and she would like to keep it that way. The less she knew, the better.

Beth sighed. "I guess you're right. Who knows, maybe he'll forget about it and everything will go back to normal… what, it could happen!"


	13. Plans for the Future

Thank you so much for all the reviews! I'm really glad y'all are enjoying this!

I want your thoughts about this: can the Moonlight vampires drink alcohol? I couldn't remember and was hoping you could help me out! Leave a review or message me about what you think!

Please Read&&Review!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any other characters except for Vittoria and the ones you don't recongize.**

* * *

So," Beth said, as the two of them had their lunch break. It had been another slow day, mostly just updates about political stuff and whatnot. Beth was eating as she talked while Vittoria sat there, no food in front of her. "Did you hear about this big charity party that's the talk of the city?"

Vittoria felt her heart, if she even had one, stop. "No, have you?"

"Mhm, Mick mentioned something about it. Apparently his friend is throwing it," Beth said, taking a forkful of salad into her mouth.

"Really?" Vittoria said, acting as if she had no idea what she was talking about when this subject was the only thing she had thought about all day. "Who's his friend?"

Beth finished chewing before she answered, swallowing loudly. "Josef Kostan."

"So when Mick 'mentioned' this to you, was that an invitation?" Vittoria said, ignoring the mention of the cause of her annoyance… well, most of it.

Beth blushed. "I thought we agreed to not use his name for the rest of the day."

"Fine, so when Xy&z mentioned this to you, was that an invitation?" she said, using a filler as Mick's name.

"Unless there was a secret message in that sentence, then no he just mentioned it," she said, picking at her salad.

Vittoria rolled her eyes. "He will or I'll make him. You can't just mention the biggest part this year to a girl and expect to not take her. It's like, the way of life."

Beth sighed. "I'll probably end up going, maybe with him but not with him with him, you know? We'll be the losers who go as friends."

"At least you'd be there," Vittoria pointed out as Beth took a large swing of her water.

"Hey, maybe I could get him to give you an invite," Beth said, her tone of voice more excited than it was moments before. "Then at least I won't suffer alone."

_Crap. _"Oh, no it's alright. Really. I'd just be a third wheel."

"Not if you get a date, which I'm sure, looking like you, won't be a problem at all," Beth said, obviously not wanting to spend any more alone time with Mick than was humanly necessary.

_I can't tell her that I already have a date. Especially when the date is the one throwing the party. _"Well, I guess I could get a date. I'm sure Lisa would make me go. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" Beth asked, sounding a little bit confused.

"Totally, don't worry about it," Vittoria assured her. She felt somewhat bad for throwing the topic away when she mentioned it but, at the same time she was happy that the attention was off her.

Beth's phone rang, giving her yet another distraction from the previous topic. She glanced down at the number and her eyes widened.

"Is it…?" Vitoria asked, eyeing Beth in a somewhat concerned way. She had yet to move or inhale as she listened to the phone ring and ring. "Well, answer it!"

Beth managed to get enough sense, or sanity, to answer. "Um, hello? Yeah, give me a second."

She then left the room with a file and her phone in hand, leaving a very annoyed Vittoria to wait for her return and details about this phone call.

* * *

Josef Kostan sat in his office after just ending a meeting. The people were too curious but straight-forward. The curiosity was always an issue, seeing as curiosity killed the cat… or the human.

His secretary, Brenda, walked down the door after holding it open for the leaving men. "Mr. Kostan? Mick St. John is on line one, he says it's important."

"It always is," he muttered under his breath as Brenda closed the door behind her. Josef sighed before reaching for the phone. "Hello?"

"_Hey Josef, it's me Mick. Do you have a minute?"_

Josef rolled his eyes. "If I didn't, do you think I would have answered the phone? So what is it this time? Did you accidentally kill Beth? Did you, God forbid, _tell _her your feelings?"

"_You're a riot, or maybe just an ass."_

"If I liked a girl, I would tell her. Simple as that," Josef responded, rushing off the insult as if it was nothing, "so, how did last night go?"

"_Not as good as I would have liked it to. I opened the door and she basically attacked me with, um, her lips."_

He bit back a smirk. "Her lips? And this is a bad thing because?…"

"_Beth was drunk."_

"You're point?"

"_She didn't know what she was doing."_

Josef rolled his eyes, something he usually does when he talks to Mick. "You think way too much about this. All this shows is that she likes you to. So, boy likes girl, girl likes boy. Add in some sex or alcohol, it doesn't matter. They all go the same way."

"_No, they don't all go the same way. Sometimes the boy likes the girl and the girl likes the boy but then the girl didn't really like the boy and he just got mixed signals from her and he's heartbroken…" _

"Mick, I have a feeling that you are having abandonment issues," Josef said, ignoring Mick's curses, "we're all here for you, buddy."

"_I'm not having abandonment issues! I'm not going to ruin Beth's life or put her in danger!"_

"Well, then you know what you're gonna do. I won't interfere, but you are going to the party this Saturday, right?" Josef said, spinning in his chair.

"_I don't have a date."_

"Mick, that's easily the worst excuse I've heard in quite some time," Josef snorted. "Date or no date, I could care less."

"_What about you, Mr. Big-shot? Who are you taking to this gala event?"_

Josef found himself grinning wider then he had meant to. "Don't you worry about me, silly little Mick. I always have a date. Some are just more… willing to be my date than this one."

"_She hates you? Why are you going with a girl who hates you?"_

"Because, it makes the game more fun," he said, shrugging even though he knew he couldn't see him.

"_The game? What game?"_

"I would love and talk about our issues," Josef said, shaking his head in disappointment. Mick was extremely clueless at time, it was a wonder women found him attractive and even more of a wonder that he managed to bag someone like Coraline as his _wife_. "Unfortuneally I've got things to do, people to meet, morons to kill. I'll talk to you later."

Josef hung up the phone before Mick had any chance to respond. He hated when he acted like this, all Mr. Noble and what not. If Beth liked him then he might as well just do whatever humans do with relationships. At least it would give him some peace of mind.

But, like usual, Josef had better things to think about then Mick and his disability with the women in his life. He could be thinking about business or blood or the party or blood. The word 'party' brought to mind another topic that had been running in and out of his mind for the past couple of days. He had to find a way to get Vittoria to tolerate him. Unfortuneally, that was like getting an elephant though a mouse hole. She, for the lack of a better word, hated him.

Actually, it was more like annoyed. Josef noted that she would roll her eyes and scoff when she was around him. Was it the money? Or was it just his nature that annoyed her?

Josef found himself stuck, at a dead end. He wanted to get her to play his game, not him playing her game. In order to do that, he had to get the upper hand. What could he do? Flowers? No, she already rejected that gift. Chocolate? No, she's a vampire, she can't eat chocolate. Blood? No, too creepy.

Well, at least he managed to get her to accept his offer as his date to the party. That was easily the biggest and most successful deal he's ever made. Now she would have to spend time with him, but after the party, she could go on and avoid him permanently.

_I have to find a way to get her to tolerate me before the end of the party, _he thought to himself, spinning in his chair once again. _Human women are so much easier to deal with. Flowers, chocolate, dinner. That's really all it takes but these damn vampire women…_

The thought of vampire women and human women sparked a memory in his brain. Mick mentioned something about her being friends with Beth, didn't he? Beth's her friend which means if he helps Beth with Mick, maybe she'll help him with Vittoria.

"I'm awesome, I really am," Josef said to himself, grinning proudly.


	14. The Stuttering Fool

Sorry for the wait! I went up to see my family over the weekend and spent the previous week trying to finish up exams and whatnot!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story!

Please Read&&Review!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any other characters except for Vittoria and those you don't know.**

* * *

When Beth returned from her phone call, she told her that it had simply been one of her friends and not Mick, much to Vittoria's disappointment. They spent the rest of the day working and checking their phones every five minutes to see if Mick, or any other unmentionable people have called. Unfortuneally, they both didn't get any phone calls. Vittoria was barely disappointed while Beth was freaking out, claiming that she ruined her and Mick forever.

"I am never going to drink again," she groaned, after checking her phone for the millionth time. It was around five o'clock and they were leaving from work. Beth lived about a block or two short from Vittoria's apartments so they were walking together.

Vittoria rolled her eyes but couldn't help letting out a small grin. "Ah, you say that now but you are upset and in love which, nine times out of ten, leads to drinking. Would you like me to steal all your alcoholic beverages so you won't be tempted?"

Beth sighed. "No, I'll be fine… I think."

Vittoria nudged her slightly in what she thought would be comforting. "Don't worry too much. Mick will call. He has the mind of a thirteen year old boy trapped in a man's body. When he gets the strength to grow a pair, he'll call."

"That was somewhat reassuring," Beth said, raising her eyebrow slightly at her, "thank you."

"I try," Vittoria said, shrugging. Okay, so she wasn't the best, comforting friend but at least she was trying. Vittoria, even when she was a human, had never been very social or people friendly. Mostly she tend to stay far, far away from society and people.

One of their ring tone's went off, causing both of them (mostly Beth) to have a heart attack mixed with a panic attack. Vittoria pulled out her phone, which was silent. Beth scrambled to pull out her phone and managed to answer it without crying, screaming, or fainting.

"Hello?" Beth said, her voice shaky. Vittoria assumed it wasn't Mick, but she could be wrong. She tried to tell Beth though hand motions to tell her who it was, but Beth just looked confused. "Josef? Oh, yeah. Uh, what can I help you with?"

Vittoria nearly choked on her tongue. Josef was calling Beth? If she was human, she would have probably died of anxiety by now. Unfortuneally, all she could do was listen to Beth and try to figure out why on God's earth Josef was calling Beth.

"He called you? I know you're his best friend… what did he say?… Did he mention me? Really? Well, what did you tell him to do!?" Beth said, looking at her with wide eyes.

_Mick? Oh thank God, they were talking about Mick, _she thought to herself. Although, she did feel just the very slight disappointed that it wasn't about her… but only very slightly.

"Well is he going to call? What do you mean you don't know!? He said he wasn't… and you didn't stop him!? I'm leaving now, if you talk to him, tell him to call me," Beth said before hanging up the phone.

Vittoria raised an eyebrow. "So, would you like to talk about that?"

"Oh that was just Josef - Mick's best friend - calling to inform me that Mick called him and he was worried for his mental health," Beth explained, shoving her phone back into her purse, all while sounding a bit distracted.

"His mental health?"

"Not Mick's, if that's what you meant. Apparently, he has been annoying the hell out of Josef with his, and I quote, 'personal issues'," Beth said, sighing in a rather annoyed fashion.

Vittoria found herself grinning against her will. As if Josef Kostan wasn't very charming and rich, he could now add funny to his long list of achievements. "Lighten up, tomorrow's a new day right?"

"I guess, but I don't know how much longer I can take," Beth said as her apartment building came into view. Vittoria tried to not remind herself that in this very parking lot she gave in to temptation.

"Why are you waiting for him to call again?" Vittoria said, shaking those memories out of her mind. "I mean, it's a new society these days. Why don't you just call him?"

Beth pondered over this thought, obviously not having a comeback to that suggestion what so ever. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Vittoria rolled her eyes. "Stay away from the alcohol. I don't want to have to, dare I say, call Mick."

Beth waved goodbye before heading into her apartment building. Vittoria began to turn around, wondering why the hell she didn't take her car… wait, that was it. She remembered loaning it to Lisa who needed to take a case and quick.

_Oh well, _she thought to herself as she began to walk, _the sun isn't too bright._

Vittoria walked the block to her apartment, hands in her pants pockets, as she let her mind wonder aimlessly. The walk wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it might be. She was at her apartment building in no time, which was good because she was really craving a glass of A+.

Vittoria grabbed the small pile of mail in her mailbox before heading to the elevator and hitting her floor number. She filed though the letters as she waited for the elevator to stop. Most of it was just bills or advertisements.

She got off the elevator when it stopped and hurried to her apartment, ready to crash for the night.

* * *

Josef Kostan spent at least five minutes constantly banging on Mick St. John's door, hoping that he'd have half the sense to open the door in the next five seconds or he'll break it down himself. Thankfully for his new shoes and Mick's door, he didn't have to do that.

"Josef, what the hell are you doing here?" Mick asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend's appearance at his house.

"I am here to help you, my friend," he said, walking into the apartment. Mick reluntlently let him in, knowing that he'd just find another way into the apartment.

"Help me with what?" Mick asked, closing the door once Josef was in.

"Your relationship issues," Josef said simply, taking a seat on the sofa.

"I don't have relationship issues," Mick said, nearly choking on his words.

Josef grinned. "Well, according to Beth and the rest of the world, you do. So, I am going to help you over this bump. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"My personal life is none of your business," Mick argued, already knowing that he'd lose this one.

"Mick," Josef sighed, "the first step to getting over your problems is admitting you have one. So go ahead. Confess."

"I don't have any problems - - "

"Admit it."

"Josef, I am fine - - "

"Move forward, buddy. Not back."

"I am going to kill you - - "

"I won't treat you any different. We'll support you."

"Fine! I have a relationship issue, problem, whatever you want to call it!" Mick said, finally giving in.

Josef smirked, very pleased with himself already. "Good. Now call her."

"What?!"

"Just call her," Josef explained slowly, as if not to spook Mick.

Mick was at a lose for words. "I… I can't just, you know, call her!"

"Did you lose your arms today? Just dial the number, that's the first step," Josef said as Mick sat down at the other end of the sofa.

"I don't know what to say!" Mick pointed out, knowing fully well that if he actually called Beth, then he'd end up stuttering and hanging up like a loser. Or, if the world really hated him, he'd end up saying nothing, just breathing really loudly then hanging up much like a stalker would.

"Why don't you, oh I don't know, ask her to my party? That's an ice breaker," Josef suggested. He actually could care less if Mick took Beth or not. The only reason he wants them to go together was because Vittoria was friends with Beth, according to Mick.

"What if she already has a date?"

"Then I'll kill her date and she can go with you, just call her!" Josef said, rolling his eyes at his friend's cowardliness.

"I don't think this is a good idea…" Mick tried to say as Josef threw his cell phone at him. "What the hell."

Mick, nervously, dialed Beth's number and waited for her to pick up. Josef motioned for him to put it on speaker but Mick waved him off. He didn't want him to comment on what was being said. After a few rings, Beth picked up.

"_Hello?"_

"Oh, hi Beth… it's me, Mick," he said, spitting out the words as smoothly as he could which was, apparently, not very smooth at all.

"_Mick? Oh, um, hi! What's up?"_

"Well, uh," Mick started, looking over at Josef for lines. Josef did some hand gestures that would probably translate to 'don't blow it you moron!'. "I was going to, er, ask you if you wanted to, you know, be my date to, um, Josef's party."

"_Oh! I, um, well I wasn't expecting that."_

"Well, we wouldn't have to go, I mean, we could go as, you know, like friends," Mick added, causing Josef to groaned and smack his hand to his forehead. Josef did some more hand gestures which, in Mick's mind, translated to 'tell her you want to go as dates not friends!'

"_Oh, well…"_

"I mean, I want you to be my date, not my friend. No, I mean, I want to be your friend but I want you to go with me as, like, the woman I like," Mick stumbled over his words.

Josef had to admit, he was very impressed that not only was Mick _listening _to him, but he was actually spitting out everything. Was it graceful? No. Was it romantic? No. But did he at least give it a shot? Arguably he did.

"_Mick, I would love to go as your 'the woman I like' date."_

"Really? I mean, uh, great! So, um, I'll call you tomorrow?" Mick said, surprise clear on his face as Josef gave him a weak thumbs up.

"_Okay. Bye."_

"I can't believe it," Mick said, tossing the phone back to its owner, "she said yes. Beth will be my date! I wasn't half bad was I?"

"No you weren't. It was more like fully terrible, but congrats!"


	15. Dress Shopping

Sorry for the delayed updates! I went out of the states with my family for the holidays!

Please Read&&Review!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except Vittoria and the ones that you don't recongize.**

* * *

Vittoria De Luca found the next couple of days passing by much too quickly to her liking. Before it could be processed though her mind, it was Friday morning, also known as the day before the party.

Seeing as Vittoria tried to ignore this event as much as possible, it didn't surprise anyone that when Friday morning came along, she hadn't gotten a dress or even made an attempt to get ready for this event.

Beth and her were going dress shopping, actually, just Beth was shopping for a dress. Vittoria somehow managed to convince her that she already had a dress, just so she could pull it off even longer. Although, if she was looking for a dress, Beth would more or less likely ask her more and more questions about her date, which would only push her over the edge even further.

"What do you think about this one?" Beth asked, emerging in an ill-fitting pink number. They had yet to find any close to good dresses, mostly being stuck with either hideous colors or terrible fits, sometimes both.

"That one sucks, but not as bad as the one before it," Vittoria said, shuddering at the mental image of the previous dress which included green and lots of frills.

"I guess that's some improvement…" Beth trailed off, looking at herself in the mirror with a torn expression. "Maybe we should try a different store."

"I'm in for that. For some reason, pastel colors make me sick," Vittoria said, standing up and grabbing her bag.

The two of them made their way to a different store about half a block away with some foreign name. It seemed safe to enter because the dresses in the windows were all dark and not fluffy and frilly.

"I'm gonna try on these," Beth said, holding on to about ten dresses in her arms. They had been here for about ten minutes and were already having high hopes for this place.

"Alright, I'll be waiting," Vittoria said as Beth went into one of the stalls. She sat down on one of the empty benches in the dressing room and sighed. This had been a long day and it had just started. Not that she didn't like Beth, it was just that she really, really wished that Josef Kostan wasn't so convincing.

"This one?" Beth asked, coming out in a simple black dress.

Vittoria looked over it for a moment. "It's a nice dress but a little too simple."

"That's what I thought, let me try this one on," Beth said before heading back into the dressing room to change into a different dress.

Vittoria felt her phone buzzing in her bag, which meant someone was calling her. She glanced at the caller ID but didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" she said, leaning against the wall behind her.

"_So, I got a call from Mick who got a call from Beth," _Josef Kostan said, causing Vittoria to nearly die of shock.

"And what exactly was this phone call chain about?" she asked, trying to calm herself down. She was still curious of why he had her cell phone number, seeing as she remembers not giving it to him.

"_According to Mick, Beth called him saying that you two were going dress shopping."_

"Your point?"

"_She also said that you weren't getting a dress, which is unfortunate because you kind of need a dress for these kinds of events."_

Vittoria bit her lip, something she usually does when she's nervous. "Maybe I already have a dress so I don't need to buy one today."

"_Liar."_

"How do you know that I'm lying? Wait, hang on," Vittoria said as Beth emerged from the dressing stall in a navy dress. It had thick straps and went to a bit above the knee. It was, all in all, perfect.

"Well…?" Beth asked, looking at herself in the mirror.

"It's perfect," Vittoria said, smiling at her.

"Alright, I'll get it. Let me just change," Beth said, grinning like a fool.

Vittoria turned back to the phone. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"_I believe you were lying about not lying about the dress," _Josef explained, a grin of some sort clear in his voice.

"You are so annoying," she said, already losing her patience.

"_Yes, well since I know you don't have a dress, I got you one. It should be at your apartment," _Josef explained, making Vittoria nearly fall off the bench in shock. Whether it was because he knew where she lived or because he actually bought her a dress. Or maybe it was because he knew she was lying all along.

"How do you know where I live?" she spit out after a few moments.

"_I know the guy who supplies you with your blood. He gave me the address. Did you think I was some stalker?" _he teased.

"Momentarily, yes," she admitted, putting her hand to her forehead.

He laughed. _"Such little faith you have in me, Ms. De Luca."_

He remembered her last name? "Yes, well I must go and help Beth with her dress."

"_No thank you?"_

Pause. "Thank you. Now goodbye."

Vittoria shoved her phone into the very, very bottom of her purse, slightly out of breath. She sat there, frozen, for a minute before Beth got out of the changing room.

"Hey… um, are you okay?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow at her frozen body.

Vittoria forced herself to snap out of the trance she was in. "What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, well, no. I mean yes, yes I'm fine."

"Who were you on the phone with?" Beth asked, eyeing her stumbling response.

"Oh, just someone I know. A friend, I think," she said, shifting her glance to her purse before looking back at Beth.

"Okay, well I'm going to buy this dress," Beth said, awkwardly before heading out of the changing room section of the store and heading to the front desk.

"I really need to get home," she mumbled to herself once Beth was gone.


	16. The Never Ending Surprises

After Beth made her dress purchase, the two of them headed out of the store and began to make their way down the busy L.A. sidewalk. Beth had been talking about Mick and the way he asked her to be his date for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Vittoria was glad that Mick finally got the stones to ask Beth to be his date - and not just the 'going as friends' type date - but it was getting old after three days.

"So, I was thinking," Beth said, after explaining the phone call word for word, "how about we go over to your house?"

Vittoria nearly choked on the air. "What? Why my house? I mean, it's getting kind of later, don't you think?"

"It's four o'clock," Beth pointed out. "Besides, we're friends. Don't friends do this?"

Vittoria scrambled to find an excuse that was realistic and believable. "I… I don't have any food at my house. I did the total clean out the fridge thing and have been too busy to go out and buy some."

"That's alright. We already ate remember?" Beth said, refusing to give up on the idea. "Besides, we're closer to your place."

"Fine but if we go, you cannot complain about no food and the only liquid I have in my apartment is water," Vittoria said, deciding not to include her hidden blood supply. Beth might know about Mick, but Vittoria didn't want her to find out.

"Oh, you worry too much," Beth said, grinning at her victory. "What, do you have, like, dead bodies hidden in your closet?"

_Nope, no dead bodies. Just blood, lots and lots of blood, _Vittoria thought, bitterly to herself as she focused on the sidewalk as Beth went on about the ball-event-party thing.

"So, are you ever going to tell me who you're going with? And don't even start to say that you aren't going with anyone," Beth threatened as Vittoria opened her mouth to disagree.

"Um, it's a surprise?" she said, her answer sounding more like a question than a statement.

Beth raised an eyebrow. "A surprise? Really?"

"Er, yeah. People still do that, you know," Vittoria responded, avoiding eye contact with her. "Surprises."

"Come on!" Beth whined, easily annoyed with the idea of not knowing every detail of her love life. "Who's your date?"

"Well, it _is _a guy," she said, grinning a bit at Beth's frustrated groans, "and he's, um, special."

"Special?" Beth scoffed. They had arrived at her apartment building and were walking into the lobby.

Vittoria bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Well, he's different. Very, very different but he's… well, he's determined."

"Determined?" Beth asked, laughing at her use of adjective to describe her secret date. "Is he handsome?"

Vittoria winced. "Some might say."

"What do you say?"

"He's certainly not horrifyingly ugly," Vittoria said, trying not to allow her answers to come back and haunt her. Knowing Josef, he'd probably hear from Mick that heard from Beth that she thought he was insanely attractive.

"That's not a very good description," Beth laughed as they approached her apartment door. She sent a silent prayer to whatever god is out there that she didn't leave any trace of vampire-ness around her apartment.

"You'll see him at the party," she replied, rolling her eyes as she opened her previously locked door, stepping in quickly in case she needed to hide evidence of her last glass of A+.

Beth sighed, frustrated. "Oh, you're impossible!"

"I get that," she said simply, putting her bag on the small table near her door. "Do you want a glass of water? Seeing as that's all I posses."

"Sure," Beth said, taking a seat on the sofa as she waited for Vittoria to come back. While in the kitchen, she made sure she moved her remaining bottles of blood (which was thankfully not much because she was running low) into the secret cupboard she had installed that opened with a key-code. Paranoid? Perhaps, but you never know who might come poking around.

Vittoria returned a minute later with a glass that had never been used before filled with water.

"Thanks," Beth said, taking the water and sipping it. "Your apartment is amazing, just so you know."

"Oh, really? Thank you," Vittoria said, never really seeing the appeal of her apartment. It wasn't half bad but it wasn't very homey either.

"So, can I see your dress?" Beth asked, glancing down briefly at her own bag which contained her dress.

_Dress. My dress. The one I told her I already had. Shit, _she thought to herself, scrambling to come up with some form of an excuse and or apology. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Oh, let me get that!" Vittoria said, nearly sprinting out of the room and to the door before Beth could ask her about her nonexistent dress again.

"Ms. De Luca?" the delivery man asked, looking rather young and exhausted.

"Yes, that's me. I don't recall ordering anything," Vittoria said, glancing at the box in his arms. Then, it hit her.

"It is a gift, if I remember correctly, from Mr. Josef Kostan," the delivery boy continued.

"Shush!" she said, in case Beth was lurking around. "I mean, sorry. Just, thank you."

He handed her the box before tipping his hat and hurrying down the hallway, probably with another delivery to get to. Vittoria closed the door, grateful that Beth was too busy drinking her water than spying on her.

"What's that?" she asked, gesturing towards the box in her arms.

"I think it's my dress," she said, putting the box down on the coffee table. She peeled the tape off and yanked the cardboard folds away from the center. She was met by red, and a lot of it.

"Oh, my God," Beth muttered, seeing the bundle of red right away. Not bright red, but a dark crimson color that reminded her oddly enough of blood. Vittoria hesitated pulled the dress out of the box, afraid of what it might actually look like.

"Wow," she murmured, holding it up so both her and Beth could see. It was knee-length and form fitting, the kind of dress that a celebrity could be seen it. It covered the chest area (thankfully) and went up to her collar bone before forming slight sleeves. It was beautiful and classy, to say the least.

That is, until she turned it around.

"Does… does this dress even have a _back_?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow at Vittoria.

She was at a lose for words.

"I'm going to kill him," she finally said, still beyond words, "I am going to run him over with my car and then bring him back to life so I can do it again."

"What are you talking about?" Beth asked, slightly concerned about the well being of whoever she was going to kill.

"Hand me my phone, please," she said, holding out her hand. Beth hesitated before giving her the phone as she dialed a number that was becoming oddly familiar to her.

He picked up after the third ring. _"Hello?"_

"This dress doesn't have a back," she spoke though clenched teeth as Beth watched, fascinated.

"_It doesn't? Oh, I guess I should have turned it around. I only saw the front."_

"Liar. What possessed you to think I would wear a backless dress?!"

"_Do you have body image issues?"_

"No!"

"_Then what's the problem with a beautiful woman going in a beautiful dress, even if it has no back?"_

She paused. "Did you call me beautiful?"

"_Well, that would depend. If I did call you beautiful, would it make you more or less mad?"_

"More."

"_Then no. I did not call you beautiful, although I never really included you in that statement."_

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so I'm ugly?"

"_No, you are certainly not ugly, if you were, I wouldn't have asked you to be my date. Not that I'm shallow. What's an adjective I could use to describe you without making you annoyed? Attractive? Good-looking? Pretty? Cute?"_

He was enjoying this little game too much for her liking. Beth was probably dying of curiosity as she paced around the room, taking the appearance of a mad woman. "I am not wearing that dress!"

"_Have you at least tried it on? Oh, shit. I have a meeting, you know, business stuff. Try the dress and call me later. Bye."_

"Agh!" Vittoria groaned, throwing the phone against the sofa, not wanting to break it, even though she was beyond annoyed.

"Mind telling me who that was?" Beth asked, innocently.

"My date," Vittoria muttered, glancing at the dress again. "My idiotic, ignorant, date who likes to annoy me to the point of murder."

"It's a nice dress," Beth offered, trying to spare the poor man's life, or at least give him a shot. "Even though it doesn't have a back."

She sighed. "I hate my life. You know, this is freakin' karma. I screw up a couple of times, I never go to church, hell I'm not even Catholic! This is karma or some god playing games with me. Really, it is."

"I take it now would be a bad time to ask who your date is?" Beth piped in, the innocent look still plastered on her face.

"You'll find out tomorrow," she managed to answer, frustrated that she didn't have a good enough reason to be pissed off. Of course, listening to Josef, she had yet to actually try _on_ the dress.

Beth saw Vittoria staring at the crimson fabric, having some inner war with herself. "I think you should try it on. Not because it's an amazing dress or anything like that."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to at least try it on," she replied, reluntlently. She grabbed the dress and tossed Beth the TV remote, only so she wouldn't get bored and find her supply of blood or her freezer. She hurried to the bathroom, quickly shedding her jeans and her shirt. As if it was a sign from the universe telling her to not kill Josef, the dress fit absolutely perfectly. Truly, it was like it had been tailored to her own size.

Oh, and it was beautiful.

"I still can't believe it has no back," she murmured to herself, turning around and glancing over her shoulder to look at her naked back. This, unfortuneally, means that she won't be able to wear a bra. Was that his whole plan all along? Because if it was, he'd be losing something very dear to him before the night was over.

"Let me see the dress!" Beth called from the living room. Vittoria took a deep breath before exiting the bathroom and making her way into the living room, hating how natural the dress felt on her body.

"Well?" she asked, slightly nervous at the change in Beth's composure.

"That is the most perfect dress ever!" Beth finally said, her smile returning to her face.

Vittoria relaxed. "Thank you. That means a lot."


	17. Keeping Old Traits

Agh, sorry everyone! My computher has been screwing this up lately and the previous chapter keeps getting reposted!

Thank you for all the reviews!!!!

Read&&Review!!!!!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the other characters except for Vittoria and the ones you don't recongize.**

* * *

Vittoria De Luca woke up the next morning, already suicidal and it was only ten a.m. when she actually got out of her freezer. She had gone over her schedule about a million times already but she still refused to believe that it was the day of the damn party, even after checking her phone calendar, the one in her kitchen, and even asking the doorman on her way to work.

Beth was ecstatic, whether it was because she was going with Mick or because she would finally be able to see who Vittoria's date was. That was the thought that she had been purposely forgetting. She had no idea how Beth was going to react when she found out hat she was Josef Kostan's _date_.

The rest of the afternoon and what was left of the morning, Vittoria found herself a nervous wreck. Why? She had been asking herself that all day and the past twenty-four hours. It's just a night, it's just one party, it's just Josef Kostan… yes, she was a terrible wreck. In all honesty, it had been a good, long time since she actually went on a date with a guy. Not that she'd ever admit it to any breathing soul.

"So, are you excited for tonight?" Beth nearly squealed as they got their stuff ready to go home. This had been her only topic all though out the work day, which was, of course, not helping Vittoria and her sanity one bit.

"I can tell you are," Vittoria commented, not answering her question for the eighth time today.

Beth sighed. "Yeah, and as nervous as hell."

"That makes two of us," Vittoria said under her breath as she ducked under the desk to grab her nurse, nearly knocking her head on her way back up.

"But, at least I'm going with someone like Mick," she continued, not having heard Vittoria's comment. "It's… refreshing, you know? Going with someone who you know will sooth away your silly worries."

Beth really needed to learn when to shut up.

"Sounds like quite the relief," she replied, giving her a shaky smile. As if her nerves weren't causing her enough trouble, she felt like she was going to throw up. "Well, I have to go home and… stuff."

"Oh, alright. Well, I'll see you later tonight!" Beth called out as Vittoria nearly sprinted out of the building, trying to not explode with pressure.

_Why did I wear heels? Why, why, why? I could be running by now, _she thought to herself as she tried to get home as fast as she could in heels. She asked herself, once again, why she didn't just take her car.

_Oh, that's right. I hate traffic, _she thought as she nearly collided with someone as she turned the corner. She apologized swiftly before continuing her pace even quicker than before.

Fifteen minutes later, she _finally _got to her apartment building. She dashed into the lobby, ignoring her doorman's usual warm greeting, and dove into the elevator, pressing her floor button with some force. She waited impatiently for the elevator to reach her floor and, when it did, she dashed out and took off her heels, knowing that she'd just waste time if she tried to run in them.

She went into her apartment, out of breath and exhausted already. She hurried into her kitchen, glad that she had remembered to inform Baron that she was running dangerously low on blood this morning. She grabbed a bottle of A+ and popped it open, almost dropping the glass as she poured it to the top. She glanced at the clock, which told it was almost five thirty.

"Lisa really needs to start letting me leave earlier," she mumbled, taking a large gulp of her blood. The party began at seven o'clock but she, being Josef's date, didn't have to be there until around seven thirty, or so she had been told.

The phone rang, which made her nearly drop her glass. She set her glass down carefully before grabbing it off the counter.

"Hello?" Vittoria answered, sounding somewhat breathless.

"_You sound out of breath, you might want to take some deep breaths," _Josef's voice came from the other end of the line.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm fine. Why are you calling?"

"_You're very hostile this evening," _he noted, an amused tone heard in his voice. _"I just called to make sure you weren't having an anxiety attack, but now I'm pretty sure that you are."_

Vittoria closed her eyes, sighing. "Shut up, you're not helping."

Josef chuckled. _"Besides making sure you weren't having an anxiety attack, which you are, I was calling to tell you that my secretary, Brenda, will come to pick you up and bring you to the office. I'd pick you up myself but I have to close this deal."_

"So you're leaving me in the hands of your secretary, Brenda?" she asked, her tone in a somewhat teasing manner. She hated to admit it, but she was a little disappointed that he wouldn't pick her up but grateful that he couldn't at the same time. Actually, she was just incredibly surprised that he called.

"_Yes, but only for a short amount of time. The rest of the night, however, you will be in my hands."_

Vittoria surprised herself when she realized that a rather large grin had formed on her face at his last comment. "What time will Brenda come around?"

"_I'd expect her to come around six thirty so you'll have enough time between now and then to get ready. Oh, and just out of curiosity, did you try on the dress?"_

"Yes, I did try on the dress," she said, rolling her eyes. Her option of the dress was not nearly as bad as it had been yesterday but she was still not happy with the idea of the backless dress.

"_And?"_

She sighed. "And… it wasn't entirely bad."

Vittoria could hear the grin in his voice as he responded. _"It wasn't entirely bad? Would you mind explaining that a little bit more?"_

"You know what I mean!"

He chuckled again. _"Well, you can tell me all about it later. Right now, I got to go to my meeting. I'll see you later tonight."_

"Okay, bye."

"_Oh and Vittoria?" _he suddenly added as she was about to hang up.

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at his sudden addition.

"_Deep breaths."_

She rolled her eyes. "Goodbye."

Vittoria grabbed her glass of A+ and drained it quickly, already sensing her hunger to grow once again. Why was she so thirsty? The answer was too far way for her to see and, at the moment, all she cared about was getting another glass.

By the time Vittoria actually satisfied her thirst, she had wasted more time than she should have. Cursing under her breath, she flew into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Her hair picked a bad day to be a mess and she needed something to keep her mind off of her thirst and her nerves.

By the time she got out of the shower, it was almost six o'clock, which gave her half an hour to get dressed and ready. Vittoria was glad that she wasn't someone to obsess over her appearance like some people she had known. She threw a towel into her hair, letting it dry on it's own. She wrapped the towel around her body as she padded across to her closet. It wasn't hard to find the crimson dress, even if it was in a dress bag. She hung it on the back of the bathroom door.

Her phone rang as she was blow drying her hair, grateful that her hair wasn't a frizz ball from hell. She turned off the blow dryer and grabbed her cell phone.

"Hello?" she answered, running a hand though her hair.

_"Vittoria!"_ Beth's usual casual tone filled her ear. _"How are you doing?"_

She rolled her eyes. "Beth, you saw me an hour ago and you will see me in an hour too."

_"Yes, but I need beauty advice, if you can call it that,"_ she continued, sounding a bit distressed.

"What about?"

_"My hair and my make-up,"_ she said, her voice somewhat ashamed.

Vittoria scoffed, switching the phone to her other ear. "Beth, you really need some self respect. Do what you think looks good and don't care what others think. Mick will still be head over heels about you whether you wear your hair up or down."

_"Fine, I got to go and start working on it. Thank you for ignoring my plead,"_ Beth replied after a moment's thought.

"I'll see you later tonight, goodbye," Vittoria said as Beth hung up, no doubt to call every other friend she has for advice. She grabbed a can of hair spray and sprayed it over her hair, locking her big, gorgeous curls in place. Her brunette curls were big and luscious, something they hadn't appeared to be in much too long. The tints of red were visible just enough to not over power the brown.

Vittoria moved on to her make-up, applying only what was necessary, which wasn't much. A bit of mascara on her already long and thick lashes, some eye shadow in a brownish shade on her eyelids, some eyeliner on the bottom lashes and the perfect shade of lipstick. It wasn't enough to be considered too much but just enough to be considered there.

Finally, it was time for her dress. She grabbed it off the hanger, unzipped the bag, and looked at the fabric for quite a while. She could tell that this dress would be one she won't forget wearing. She slipped her legs though the top hole, slowly pulling it carefully up her torso. She pulled it up until her chest was covered and, after a few minutes of struggling, managed to button the button at the base of the back of her neck, the only thing holding the dress up.

Vittoria looked at herself in the full length mirror in her bedroom. "Yeah, I still got it."


	18. The Beginning of a Night for the Books

Once again, sorry about the whole Chapter 17 troubles! It's snowing out, at least where I live:)

Please, please, please Read&&Review!!!!!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the other characters except for Vittoria and those who you don't recongize.**

* * *

After another glass of A+ and a shot of vodka, just for the nerves, Vittoria felt herself more ready for this night than she had all week. She grabbed a pair of heels with straps and began to put them on, securing the buckle. After walking around the room a couple of times, making sure she wasn't going to fall down, she sat on the sofa.

It was almost six thirty, which meant that Brenda was, hopefully, on her way or at least leaving now. She vaguely remembered Brenda but assumed that she couldn't be all that bad. She also couldn't remember the last Brenda she knew who was evil.

Sure enough, as the clock flashed six thirty, there was a knock on the door. Vittoria took a deep breath, flushing when she remembered Josef's final words in the phone call, before answering the door, revealing who she assumed was Brenda.

"Ms. De Luca?" the woman in the hallway, Brenda, asked. She was wearing a modest skirt and blouse combination. It was much too fancy to be a regular office outfit, so Vittoria assumed that she too would be attending this party.

Vittoria flashed her a shaky grin. "That's me. You're Brenda, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Kostan's personal secretary," she said, very business like and rehearsed. "I'm here to pick you up and take you to his office. Mr. Kostan had a very important meeting this evening and couldn't pick you up himself."

She raised an eyebrow at her monotone explanation. "Yeah, he mentioned something like that. Um, you know you don't have to be professional to me. I'm just the girl in the pretty dress."

Brenda hesitated before responding. "I appreciate your friendliness but my job is to get you to Mr. Kostan's office safely."

"Right, well the offer stands," she said, a little annoyed with the unnecessary protectiveness. "Shall we go?"

"Of course," Brenda said, her business tone returning. They walked down the hall in silence and entered the elevator, hitting the lobby button.

"You looked really lovely tonight, Ms. De Luca," Brenda commented on the way down the elevator.

"Vittoria, call me Vittoria."

"Very well, you look really lovely tonight, Vittoria," Brenda rephrased, saying her first name with a slight hesitation.

_How badly did Josef scare this poor, innocent woman? _she thought to herself as they hit the lobby floor. They looked a bit out of place, not that anyone but themselves noticed.

"Ms. De Luca!" her doorman, an arguably handsome man by the name of Antonio, gasped as he held the door open for the two women. "You look very beautiful tonight! Meeting somebody?"

She laughed. "Thank you, Antonio, and yes, I am actually meeting somebody."

"I wish you ladies a wonderful night," Antonio responded, grinning. Brenda nodded politely in his direction and continued to walk to her car, which wasn't flashy at all, which was more than good.

"So, are you going to be at the party, too?" Vittoria asked, trying to make convocation. They had been in the car for about five minutes of pure silence and it was really wasn't giving her much of a distraction.

Brenda nodded her head. "Yes. Mr. Kostan invited all of his staff to his party. He invites us to every party, well, at least the ones of higher position. I've been his secretary for quite some time."

"Oh, well that's very… nice of him," she said, nodding slowly as if to look more interested.

"May I ask you a personal question?" Brenda asked, suddenly as they were stopped at a red light. Vittoria was surprised that "personal" was even in Brenda's vocabulary. She seemed all business and no personal talk.

"Sure." What's the worse she could ask?

"What is your relationship with Mr. Kostan?" she asked, sounding genuinely curious. She didn't sound nosy or mad or annoyed; just curious.

"My relationship with Mr. Kostan?" she choked, feeling quite flustered. "Oh, there's none. I mean, he asked me to this party but nothing else has been going on. I-It's just a favor."

Brenda raised her eyebrows, sensing that this story had more behind it. "Really? I was just curious. Thank you for telling me."

"It wasn't a problem," she said, slightly out of breath. "Thank you for being less business-like."

"I do apologize for my attitude but I've been acting like this for so long that I just find it hard to. Besides, it's easier than dealing with conflicting emotions," Brenda explained, her voice lighter than her usual monotone.

"I know what you mean," she muttered to herself, looking out the window at the passing cars. The rest of the car ride was silent, both women tangled in their own thoughts.

When they finally arrived, it was seven 'o five on the dot. Brenda parked her car, double checking to make sure she locked her car and had the keys with her. They made their way to the bottom lobby, Brenda exchanging multiple hellos and short convocations with nearly everyone there. Some of the people in the lobby complimented Vittoria on her dress, much to her relief.

The ride in the elevator was a bit longer than expected, but then again, this was a very tall building with a bunch of floors. Vittoria sighed and said a silent plead to the universe to make this night go quickly and easily. When the elevator stopped, Brenda led the way to the main office floor, also known as Josef's office floor.

"Has the meeting ended?" Brenda asked the woman who must have been filling in for her today.

"Yes, it ended just about ten minutes ago. Should I buzz in?" the woman, who's name tag read Megan, asked.

"Tell him that Ms. De Luca is here," she replied, as Megan nodded and went to work. Brenda took a seat in one of the chairs, Vittoria following her lead. Vittoria played with a stand on her hair, looking at the color that reflected in the light.

"Mr. Kostan buzzed back. He says you can come in the office," Megan informed the two after a minute or two. Vittoria, once again, followed Brenda as they made their way to the office. Before she could regain her composure, they were outside of the door. Brenda took charge and knocked on the door as Vittoria tried to calm herself, taking quiet, deep breaths.

_Confidence is key. Just act confident, _Vittoria thought to herself as she heard his reply, telling them to come in. Brenda opened the door, holding it open for Vittoria, who took one more deep breath before walking in.

The one and only Josef Kostan was looking down at his hand, which seemed to be writing something on a piece of paper. He must have changed recently because he was missing a jacket, supporting only a pair of black pants and a white, half buttoned, button down. It almost seemed like he planned to look like this, if it wasn't for the fact that he just finished a meeting.

"How was your meeting, Mr. Kostan?" Brenda asked, politely.

Josef continued to finish up writing whatever is was he was writing when he responded. "Like all the others."

When he finished a second later, he looked up briefly at Brenda before his eyes shifted and stayed fixed on the woman in the crimson dress. His eyes traced her figure, making whatever calmness Vittoria had fly out of her body.

"I should get going," Brenda said, glancing at the two of them.

"Thanks for picking me up, Brenda," Vittoria said, breaking the eye contact for a moment to give her a slight smile. She returned the smile, much to her surprise, before closing the door behind her, leaving the two of them alone.

"What did you do to that poor woman?" Vittoria said, breaking whatever silence had fallen upon them. Her tone was light and teasing, much to her surprise.

Confusion flashed on his face as he started to finish buttoning his shirt, much to her disappointment. "What do you mean?"

"She acted like all she does is work and picking me up was a business deal," Vittoria explained, trying to focus on his face rather than the rest of him.

He shrugged innocently. "I didn't have anything to do with that."

"I'm sure you didn't," she said, a small smile threatened to form on her face.

Josef grabbed his suit jacket off the back of his chair and slipped it on. "You look stunning, by the way."

Vittoria felt a grin slowly spread out on her lips. "Thank you."

He returned her grin, beginning to tie his simple black tie. He quickly knotted it before walking over to her, his grin still on his face as if it never left at all. "Ready?"

She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Ready as I'll ever be."

He held the door for her, allowing her to go out first. Vittoria didn't think anything of it until he opened his mouth once again.

"I'm glad I didn't look at the back of the dress when I bought it."


	19. The Cats are Out of the Bag

I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating in forever! My labtop crashed and that was where I had been working on the story. I'm updating from my home computher, which is where I might be forced to continue updating from because who knows how long it'll take.

If anyone has any suggestions or inputs for this story, feel free to leave a review! I'd love to know what you guys would want to see!

Thank you for all the reviews, story alerts, favorite authors, and whatnot! Please keep it up!

Read&&Review!!!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except for Vittoria and the ones that you don't recongize. **

* * *

Vittoria De Luca has had her fair share of men. Most of them came after she was turned, but even before then, she had a couple men in her life. Unfortuneally, it has been quite a length of time since her last date, or anything to do with a public event. Which would explain why she felt completely and utterly unprepared for this public event-date-favor thing.

In her defense, this was Josef Kostan she was going with.

So, it didn't really surprise her when she found herself extremely close to hyperventilating on the car ride there. Okay, slight exaggeration. It was more like she was just out of practice. But, then again, it's hard to go on a date with anyone, human or vampire, when you can't really eat or go out in the sunlight for too long.

Vittoria focused on clearing her mind and bringing down her blood pressure. She suddenly found herself wishing that she had some form of alcohol in her system rather than just a shot of vodka. She knew that confidence was key and all she had to do was survive for this one night, not even a full twenty-four hours, and she'd be off the hook.

That is, if the night goes how she wants it and, lets face it, it won't.

"You might want to breath some time soon," Josef commented, a small smirk on his face. "You wouldn't want to pass out."

Vittoria glared at him yet took a breath, trying to keep it quiet rather than sounding like she was gasping for air. "Are we almost there?"

"We'll be there in about three seconds," he said, looking out the window. As always, he was right. They appeared in front of the lit building, the sound of people could be heard from where they were. Judging by the sound, it was either a small group of very loud people or a whole lot of people.

"Ready?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, trying to figure out if she was stable this evening or if she'd go insane. He was leaning towards insanity.

Vittoria sighed. "Do I really have to answer that?"

And so the start of the festivities began.

* * *

Mick hadn't felt this nervous in most of his life, which included him nearly killed daily. Despite his previous terrifying experiences, none could be comparable to this charity with Beth… as his date. Now, if Mick was human, he was sure that he'd be on the ground having some form of a heart attack or stroke. He was glad that he, in fact, couldn't have some form of a heart attack or a stroke, but he wasn't positive. Knowing his luck, he would have either one or those before the night was over.

"I can't believe that Josef would be half an hour late to his own charity event," Beth said, shaking her head disappointedly.

A small grin flashed across his face. "Are you really that surprised?"

Beth laughed. "I guess not, but it's still a bit rude… but, I guess I shouldn't be surprised about that either."

Mick knew that it would appear that they were so socially awkward that they must talk about Josef Kostan just to break the ice. Fortuneally, that wasn't the deal. They were able to talk more freely now that, in Mick's mind, semi-together. They had talked about nearly every topic in just half an hour. If it wouldn't be too much, Mick would have kissed her on the spot.

But, that would be a bit of overkill.

"He'll show up sooner or later," Mick said, knowing fully well that Josef liked to be "fashionably late" this these kinds of events.

"And I haven't seen Vittoria here either," Beth said, taking a bit of her salad. "I still can't believe that she won't tell me who her mystery date is."

Mick raised an eyebrow. "Vittoria De Luca? Why wouldn't she tell you who her date is?"

"That's what I've been wondering for the past week," Beth sighed. "I'm convinced he's either imaginary or an axe murderer."

"Or incredibly unattractive," Mick suggested, causing Beth to laugh, a sound that he found more wonderful than any music he's ever heard.

The next fifteen minutes they spent talking about other things, nothing that had to do with Josef or Vittoria. In fact, the two of them were so consumed in, well, each other that they failed to notice the host and his date arrive. It wasn't until Josef welcomed everyone formally on stage did they realize he was even in the room. By the time they realized, people were clapping as he finished his short speech.

"Well, if it isn't the host himself," Beth said, slightly dazed, like she had just woken up from a dream. A fantastic dream.

"And he only missed about forty-five minutes of this event," Mick said, looking for his friend, who was getting off the stage as they spoke.

"Who's his date?" Beth asked, watching as Josef got off the stage and walked over to a girl in a red dress who was probably his date. She fit the criteria: insanely gorgeous, tall, and probably had some wonderful blood type.

Mick felt a little guilty looking at the woman, but he was only half looking at her like that. Mostly, he was looking at Josef's facial expression, trying to see if he would give away who she was. "I have no idea. Josef never told me who he was going with."

If Mick were to have looked at Beth, he would have noticed her face was filled with deep confusion. "I…I think there's something familiar about her."

"What do you mean?" he asked, forcing himself to peel his eyes away from the women, who's back was still turned towards them, concealing her identity.

"I don't know, it just feels… like I know her or something. Which is crazy because I usually remember the people I meet," Beth explained as Josef talked freely to his date.

And then, she turned around, revealing her identity to Mick and Beth.

"Oh my God," Beth said, her mouth falling open in shock. If her eyesight was as good as she believed it was, she was looking at the girl in the red dress, Josef Kostan's date. The brown hair in big, loose curls. The red, stunning dress... the red, stunning, _backless _dress.

"Is that… Vittoria De Luca?" Mick asked, suddenly feeling quite dirty for looking at her in such a way.

"Oh my God," Beth repeated, her mouth closing, but her eyes still wide with shock. This was her date? The guy who she refused to tell her about? Why the hell, or better yet, _how _the hell did she become Josef Kostan's _date_?

Mick leaned back in his seat. "Well, I certainly didn't see that one coming."

Beth, on the other hand, was in a state of shock. "H-how did that? I-I didn't. Oh my God."

As much as Beth and Mick would have loved to march right over there and demand some form of an explanation from both Vittoria and Josef, the mayor seemed to have pulled the two of them away from some unknown reason. Instead, Beth and Mick sat in shock and just pure confusion.

"W-Why? Oh my God, is she one of his freshies?" Beth asked, her voice dripping with both concern and, as usual, shock.

Mick raised an eyebrow. "No, that would be impossible. You'd need human blood to survive."

"What?" Beth asked, sounding like someone had sucker punched her.

"Vampires need human blood to survive. We can't feed off of our own kind," Mick explained, lowering the tone of his voice.

"I know that," Beth interrupted, "what I mean is why are you telling me this?"

Mick looked confused. "Well… I mean, you thought Vittoria was one of the freshies…"

"She's a vampire?!" Beth said, barely managing to keep her voice low enough for only Mick to hear.

Mick blinked. "Yea. You, um, didn't know?"

The look Beth gave him clearly showed that she, in fact, did not know that the woman she works with and who has listened to all her issues is a vampire.

At that moment, Mick decided that it would be very, very wise of him if he stayed far away from Vittoria De Luca until her thirst for his blood died down, which could take a seemingly long time.


	20. The First Mistake of the Night

I'm sorry it has been close to forever since I last updated! I've been up to my neck with school work and stuff!

Thank you for all the reviews and favorites and what have you! By the way, did anyone happen to watch the Moonlight maraton that was on last week? I did :)

Please Review&&Read!!!!!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the other characters except Vittoria and those you don't know!**

* * *

Unaware that Beth Turner now knew what she was or that Mick St. John was now on her hit list, Vittoria De Luca felt as if every moment at this event was yet another reminder that she needed to get out more. Not to this extent, but at least a little bit. It was amazing, to her at least, that most of the people actually knew who she was. Or maybe it was just because she was with Josef Kostan that they said they knew her.

Speaking of Josef Kostan, he had kept his earlier promise from the night. Vittoria found herself unable to go anywhere without him, which she was, surprisingly, thankful for. Some of the people here were shady characters.

Vittoria had seen Beth and Mick at the party but had yet to talk to them. Last she saw of them, they seemed to be deep in convocation. She was glad that the two of them were somewhat together, at least for now.

She would have to wait until later to try and get in a word with Beth. Right now, she and Josef were talking to one of his business related acquaintances. Well, he was doing most of the talking.

"Oh, please forgive me," the man who's name she couldn't remember for the life of her, said, "I got all caught up with Mr. Kostan here that I forgot to ask this beautiful lady's name."

Vittoria forced a small smile, just enough to seem natural. "Vittoria De Luca."

The man didn't seem to notice her forced smile, instead a bit more interested in the rest of her. "Well, Ms. De Luca is I can just say, you look stunning this evening."

"Thank you," she replied simply. It wasn't a short response because she was flattered. Actually, she just hoped that he'd eventually go away. The music switched its tone, an obvious signal to most couples to go and dance.

"May I have this dance?" Josef asked, turning away from his business related acquaintance.

"Of course," she replied without thinking. Anything to get away from this man, she'd agree to.

Josef told the man goodbye, in such a manner that he truly wasn't sorry he had to go, before the two of them made their way out to the dance floor. There were already a bunch of couples out there, Mick and Beth one of them.

"I take it you don't like Mr. Nelson," Josef commented, taking her hand in his.

"How'd you know?" she asked, grinning slightly, putting her hand on his shoulder. On a side note, she never knew that he was this tall… or perhaps she was just this short.

"Your face said it all, darling," he explained, grinning. Vittoria bit back whatever embarrassment she had felt by the 'darling' added at the end. The last thing she needed was for Josef to figure out how to make her nervous, and 'darling' was certainly one of them.

Vittoria recovered quickly. "Well, I doubt he noticed."

"No, I don't think he did, either," Josef sighed at the hopelessness of his acquaintance.

"Those kinds of men are the worst," Vittoria said, referring to the men who don't know the difference between if a woman likes them or hates them.

"Aren't you glad I'm not like that?" he asked, proudly. As if he was getting an award for understanding the difference between a no and a yes.

"Really? What makes you think that?" Vittoria asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He opened his mouth to answer but then stopped as a slight grin formed. "Why, do you think I'm one of those guys?"

When Vittoria struggled for an answer, he continued.

"Well, I know if I woman doesn't like me, but just because I know they don't, doesn't mean I don't try," he explained, chuckling at her struggling face.

"And what if they flat out say no?" Vittoria asked, curiously after she managed to regain her composure. "Do you leave them alone?"

"Yes," he responded automatically, not even pausing to breath.

She raised an eyebrow, once again doubting his answer. "Really? Then why didn't you leave me alone?"

A smirk appeared on his face, taking it's dear sweet time to spread itself across his face. He leaned in closer to her, not too close but close enough to make her want to take a step back. "Because you didn't say no."

And he had her there. Vittoria found herself utterly and completely speechless, not like there would be anything she could say if she could. Honestly? That was all it would have taken to get rid of him? A simple two letter word?

Josef, taking much pride in his ability to make her speechless, continued speaking as if he didn't just murder her thought process. "Want to get out of here?"

Vittoria looked up at him, knowing fully well what he was like and who he probably was. Still, it didn't stop her from answering his question with an answer she never thought that she'd hear herself say. "Sure."

And so started the first mistake of the night.


	21. Alcohol is a Dangerous Thing

Alright, heads up on this chapter. **Kinda mature, so be warned**. Nothing too bad though...

Anyways, thank you for the reviews and whatnot!

Please, please, please Read&&Review!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except for Vittoria and those you don't recongize! **

* * *

Sunday morning…

Vittoria De Luca woke up the next morning feeling like someone had hit her in the head with a bat. She hadn't felt this hung-over in years. She opened her eyes, wincing quietly as the lights caused her head to ring, and checked her surroundings. Well, she wasn't at _her _apartment, that was for sure, nor was she at Beth's house. The light bulb went on in the back of her head.

She sat up and quickly grabbed the covers after realizing that she was without her dress, which meant she was currently topless. Wait, covers? A bed? Vittoria felt her fangs inching out with hunger. Without a night in her freezer, she was hungry. Even the cold room wasn't helping the blood lust.

Vittoria tried to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, as hung-over and hungry as she was, when it hit her.

She looked over to her right at the sleeping form besides her. She didn't need to see his face to know exactly who it was. What was worse was that he, like her, was currently without a shirt. How drunk was she last night? Vittoria curiously looked down at the rest of her, only to discover that her dress was not the only thing that was missing.

"Shit," she muttered, looking back at Josef Kostan's sleeping form. She didn't have to ask to know fully well that he, like her, was not missing just his shirt. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Vittoria racked her mind for any memories of last night's events.

"_So how old are you?" a drunken Josef Kostan asked, grabbing the hand of an equally drunk Vittoria De Luca. They had gone to his apartment after the party and one thing led to another. After a couple (a word being loosely used) drinks, they had both put down their guards._

_Vittoria grinned, shaking her head stubbornly as he pulled her towards him. "Not telling."_

"_Why not?" he pouted, his hands grazing her hips as she grinned wider. _

"_Hasn't anyone ever told you to never ask a woman her age?" she questioned, wrapping her arms around his neck. He was taller than her so she was perched on her tip toes. _

"_I thought it was never ask a woman her weight," he replied, closing in whatever space was between them. He was grinning too, pleased at their current position, not that Vittoria noticed._

"_It's the same thing," she explained, laughing. "Besides, I'm not going to tell you."_

_His grin was replaced with a smirk as he spoke. "What if I changed your mind?"_

"_And how exactly would you do that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, amused. Before she could prepare herself, his lips were on his, completely destroying any space that was between them…_

Vittoria stopped trying to remember, already have seen enough and smart enough to put the rest of the pieces together. This was just great, really great. If her mother was still alive, she would have hit her in the back of the head. Then she would have killed her.

As if the universe hadn't screwed her over enough already, her red dress was no where in site. However, she did managed to find her panties, which were on the ground besides her. Once she had slide those on, she scanned the room once again for her red dress, still being unsuccessful.

She heard movement from the other side of the bed, causing her to nearly have a stroke. She looked over and saw Josef rolling over from his stomach to his back, groaning slightly as the light hit his eyes.

"Morning sunshine," he said, grinning slightly at her once his eyes had adjusted to the lighting.

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

Her reply only made him grin wider. "Are you always this hostile in the morning or am I just the lucky one?"

"You're just the lucky one," she responded, rolling her eyes once again.

He glanced over her, taking in her appearance and how high the covers were over her chest. "Oh."

"What?"

"I thought something had happened last night," he said, coming into a sitting position. "I couldn't remember until I saw you with the covers up to your neck."

"Shut up," she replied, embarrassed slightly. She had a feeling that she would be using that phrase more today. He laughed, grabbing something off of the floor, which she assumed was some article of clothing.

He got up off the bed after sliding on his pants and began to walk out of the room. "I'm having a blood craving. Want a glass?"

"Yes, whatever you have is fine," she said, the reminder of her hunger hitting her core. She tried to look at his face rather than his torso, which was impressive for a guy who did business all day. He left the room, giving her a nice view of his equally impressive back and time to get herself together.

Giving up on trying to find herself the dress, she grabbed the white button down on the floor near the edge of the bed. Assuming it was Josef's, she slipped it on and buttoned it up. She caught a glance of herself in the mirror, a bit glad that she didn't look like a total mess. Her hair was still loosely curled, not nearly as nice as it was last night, and she still had on last night's make-up.

"What have I gotten myself into," she murmured.

* * *

Josef Kostan usually has fresh blood, thus the job of his freshies. Unfortuneally, no freshies resided here so he was stuck with bottled for now. He pulled a bottle out and grabbed two glasses. He poured his glass first and took a drink, savoring the taste, even though it was bottled. Due to last night's encounter, he didn't get the pleasure of a cold freezer.

Last night's encounters. He was really curious how drunk he was and even more curious to know how drunk _she _was. He remembered snips of the night, mostly while at the party, and those weren't all that bad. Of course, she was hiding her frustration… or maybe she was glad it happened.

He re-filled his glass and then filled up Vittoria's, who was coming into the kitchen. She didn't look bad for a woman who just woke up, hung-over. Actually, she looked good. He glanced over at the white fabric covering the rest of her up, realizing his shirt immediately.

"You're wearing my shirt," he commented, handing Vittoria her own glass.

She took a drink before responding to his comment. "I couldn't find my dress."

They left it at that for now, both suffering from hunger. Josef couldn't help but notice that she looked very good in his shirt, not that he'd ever say it out loud. He was glad that her dress wasn't in the bedroom so he could get to view this site.

The sound of a phone ringing broke their silence. Josef didn't recognize the sound but Vittoria did. Looking around, she saw her cell phone on the counter.

"Hello?" she answered, setting her glass down on the counter.

"_Vittoria De Luca! Where are you? You were suppose to be here an hour and a half ago!" _the sound of a middle aged, annoyed woman spoke.

She rolled her eyes. "Lisa, I'm sorry but I'm, um…"

"Sick," Josef mouthed.

"…sick. Yeah, I woke up this morning and felt terrible," she continued, trying to sound ill and weak.

"_Sick? We live in L.A.!" _the woman replied, doubting that she had been overcome by a sickness in just a couple of hours.

"Lisa, I don't know how or why. I'll be there tomorrow, what's the big deal? It's one day," she explained, annoyance tangled in her words.

"_Fine, but if you aren't there tomorrow, so help me God ---"_

"Thanks Lisa, got to go. Bye," she said, hanging up before whatever threat was to come out of her mouth came out.

"That was easily the worst sick person voice ever," Josef said, smirking at her as she placed the phone back on the counter.

"It wasn't _that _bad," she argued. "Besides, what would you have liked me to do? Hand the phone to you?"

"That probably would have been better, although I don't think I'd want the _L.A. Scoop_ to know what I - we - did last night," he explained, watching in amusement as embarrassment swept across her face before disappearing.

Vittoria sighed. "Oh, I'm never going to drink again."

* * *

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!! Please? :)**


	22. Motive for Murder

Happy delayed Valentine's Day to those who enjoy that sucky holiday and Happy President's Day, which basically translated to: no school for me! And, as if no school today wasn't good enough, no school tomorrow either due to the lovely **eight** inches we just got today!

Anyways, thank you for all the reviews and whatnot! I'm glad everyone found Vittoria and Josef's, um, _issue_ as funny as I did! I'm going to try and add a bit more Mick awkwardness in these next couple of chapters, just because I love the way it sounds.

Please Read&&Review!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except for Vittoria and those you don't know!**

**

* * *

****Two and a half hours ago…**

Beth Turner woke up on a sofa that surely wasn't hers. She looked around before remembering that she was at Mick's apartment. The previous night they had stayed up late talking and whatnot so Mick figured that she should just stay here.

Beth sat up, stretching her arms and moving her hair away from her face. She heard noise coming from the kitchen and assumed that it was Mick. She pushed herself off of the sofa and made her way to the kitchen, glad to see that she was right and it was just Mick making the noise.

He must have known she was here because he looked up. "Good morning."

"Good morning," she replied, smiling slightly at him. He had a glass in his hand, no doubt filled with his daily crimson liquid. He awkwardly set it down on the counter, not quite sure how she'd react. "What time is it?"

"About eight o'clock," he responded, glad that his breakfast, if you will, was not brought to discussion. "Do you have work today?"

Beth sighed. "Yeah, but I don't have to be in until nine o'clock. Have you seen my phone?"

"It might be on the table next to the sofa," Mick suggested as Beth walked out to try and find her phone. Mick took a quick drink from his glass, taking this opportunity to feed without Beth looking.

Beth grabbed her phone off the table, glad that it wasn't lost, and checked it for any messages. None, not even one. Which was kind of surprising, but what did she expect? Someone to have sent out a search team for her? She sent a quick text to Vittoria as she walked into the kitchen, asking her what happened to her last night.

"I'll give you a ride to your apartment, that is, if you need one," Mick offered, making sure he put his glass behind him, out of Beth's view.

Beth looked up and smiled. "Thanks, I'd really appreciate it. I'd usually just call Vittoria but I can't seem to get a hold of her."

"She's probably just sleeping," Mick suggested, making a mental note to ask his dear friend how exactly she managed to end up as his date.

Beth sighed. "Yeah, she probably is."

"Um, you know how I told you, er, what she was, last night?" Mick started, trying not to have another women made at him.

"Yes. What about it?"

Mick continued. "Well, I know you have the right to know, being her friend, but I wouldn't, uh, _attack _her with questions, just yet."

Beth raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because, well, she will probably stake me without a second thought," Mick confessed. "Just, if you're going to attack her with questions, you didn't hear from me."

Beth found a small grin forming on her face. "Are you scare of her?"

"No, not scared," Mick said, stumbling over his words, "she's just very, you know, um, hostile and easily angered. And, she's an older vampire. Not nearly as old as Josef, but, yeah, she's older than me."

Beth nodded her head in a mock-understanding fashion. "Of course. Speaking of Josef, would you mind asking him how exactly he ended up with Vittoria as his date?"

"It's on my list of things to do," Mick replied, putting his glass in the sink. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure," Beth answered, following Mick out of the kitchen. She grabbed her shoes, putting them on before meeting him outside of his apartment.

"So, thanks for the ride again," Beth said as they walked up to her apartment door. The ride had been, well, nothing more than a ride home should be. They talked, mostly small talk, but still.

Mick shrugged. "It wasn't a problem. You're apartment is actually the way I had to go today. Just stuff for work. But really, it wasn't a problem."

"Well, still. Thanks," Beth said, grabbing her keys from her purse. She unlocked her door, slower than she usually would. She turned back to Mick who was just standing there, awkwardly.

"Well, I, er, guess I should be going," he said, rubbing the back of his neck, awkwardly.

"Oh," Beth said, taking full notice to his awkwardness, "um, I guess I'll talk to you later then."

"Yeah…" Mick said, trailing off. For a moment, Beth thought he would just walk over to her and kiss her. But, then again, this was Mick we were talking about.

Instead, he turned around and nearly sprinted down the hallway, leaving Beth shocked and very disappointed.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid vampire," she muttered, slamming her apartment door extra hard, just in case he was still within eyeshot.

**In present time…**

"I have the sudden urge to set you on fire," Vittoria said, her voice surprisingly even for someone who just sent out a death threat. She glared at Josef, who was holding his hands up to show a sign of surrender and trying not to laugh.

"How do you know that it's _my _fault?" Josef argued, kind of fearing for his safety. "Maybe you did it."

Vittoria sent him a look that clearly showed that she didn't do it and, if he were to continue to argue, she really would set him on fire.

"Okay, so it's not your fault," he said, not wanting her to let her fury out on him, as amusing as it was. "But I still refuse to think that it's my fault."

The matter that they were arguing about was somewhat important to one of them.

"It wasn't your fault? So someone else came into here and decided that they would rip the back of the dress from top to bottom?" she said, glaring at him. When she had gone looking for the dress, she had found it… with the entire back nearly ripped off.

"Would you hit me if I said yes?" he asked, struggling very hard not to laugh.

"Yes, I would. Hard," she answered, her glare hardening even more.

Despite her glare, he laughed. "Calm down, I'll call Brenda. I'll have her swing by your apartment and grab you some clothes. Okay?"

"And how long will that take?" she sighed, frustrated. She honestly didn't want to stay here any longer but unless she wanted to leave in less clothing than she came in. As tempting as it was, she wanted to leave this place with at least _some_ dignity.

Josef shrugged. "How am I suppose to know? More than a second but less than a day?"

"You're impossible," she grumbled, crossing her arms against her chest.

"Yes, well you're stubborn and… temperamental," Josef responded, grabbing the two perfect words to describe her. Stubborn? Extremely. Temperamental? You have no idea.

Vittoria, struggling to get over the very strong comeback he had thrown out, tried to find a reply. "Well, you're… um…"

"As much as I _love_ arguing with you and seeing you in my shirt," he said, smirking at her frustrated and sudden embarrassed face, "it will take longer for Brenda to get here if you waste time trying to find some adjectives that describe me."

"Just call her," she growled after a moment of hard thought. Sensing the defeat, she glared harder at Josef who, in turn, was smirking widely at her.

He sighed, his smirk never fading. "If you _really_ want me to."

Vittoria De Luca could already sense that this was going to be a really long day.

* * *

**If you have any comments, thoughts, suggestions for this chapter or any of the other chapters to come, please review!!!!!**


	23. Gossip

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated!!! Last Sunday was my birthday (woo!) and I've been busy with school all weekdays lately! But, here's a chapter now!

Please Read&&Review!!!!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except for Vittoria and those you don't know!**

* * *

Beth Turner went to work that morning in quite a mood. She was annoyed, tired, and a tad confused. First off, she had work, which was never fun at all. Second, she was very tired, having only gotten so much sleep on a sofa. And lastly… well, that one was pretty much self explanatory. Beth was torn between wanting to throw herself at Mick St. John and punching him in the face. It seemed like a miracle that he was actually _married_ once. Beth actually wondered if he had ever bothered to Google "how to flirt with women". If he hadn't, he probably should.

To make all matters worse, Vittoria De Luca wasn't at work. Well, either she was extremely late or she just wasn't showing up all together. This meant that Beth couldn't gush on and on about last night, pester her about her date, which just so happened to be Mr. Josef Kostan himself, and complain about Mick.

Beth would normally have called the cops an hour ago after she didn't show up for work. Of course, that was at a time where she thought her friend was actually human. Who would have guessed that Vittoria De Luca was a vampire? Actually, this didn't seem too surprising to Beth. I mean, this is the girl who is kind of with a vampire.

"Beth Turner!" Lisa, her boss, said, snapping her fingers in front of her face.

Beth sprung to life. "Oh, sorry. I zoned out there for a second. What's going on?"

Lisa sighed, obviously having as bad of a day as she was. "Well, half of the office is out, either sick or hung-over. There's not much happening except recaps of that charity event last night. By the way, how was it? I heard that you and your boyfriend went."

Beth blushed a tad at the term "boyfriend." Honestly, how old was she? Fourteen? "It was really nice, actually."

"That's what I heard. I also heard that Vittoria was there! She told me she wasn't going but, you know Vittoria. If anyone knows what she's up to, she'll freak. Did you happen to see who she went with? I doubt she'd go solo to such an event," Lisa went on. She wasn't far off when she said that it was a slow day. Obviously, the one person who she could bore to death today was Beth.

"No, I didn't see her last night," Beth lied. Even though she was mad at Vittoria, she knew better than to tell Lisa, who runs _The L.A. Scoop_, that she was Josef Kostan's date.

Lisa groaned. "That girl needs to find a guy and stop being mysterious! I swear, it's like she's holding some giant, dark secret on her back. Do you think I could Google her? They take pictures at these kinds of events, don't they?"

Beth Turner was noticing for the first time how much Lisa seemed to babble on and on and on. She switched to new topics about as fast as you blink. She could be upset then happy within a split second. And, worst of all, Beth was her only company as of now.

"Um, I'm not sure…" Beth said, but it was too late. Lisa was already typing on the keyboard into the search engine.

Normally, Vittoria De Luca tries to keep a very, very low profile. Which means: no outrageously crowded events, no TV interviews, or anything that could be used to expose her. So Beth had no idea how exactly she was going to respond to something like _this._

"Oh my God," Lisa said, her mouth dropping open, showing Beth her wad of bright pink gum. "Is that Vittoria?"

And there it was. Well, she certainly won't be happy at this snapshot. Right dead center in the most popular gossip site in all of Los Angeles was a photograph of Ms. Vittoria De Luca, also now known as Mr. Josef Kostan's date.

"_At last night's charity event thrown by the ever so famous and, according to the women of Los Angeles, ever so attractive Josef Kostan. But, the spotlight wasn't on the host of this event, rather on who he had brought as his date. _

_Vittoria De Luca, age 28, was the outrageously rich man's plus one. As a reporter for The L.A. Scoop, this bombshell has spent most of her time in L.A. undercover and away from the spotlight. However, last night was her time to shine. Stepping into the event with a gorgeous man on her arm and a stunning, backless dress, she stole the spotlight right away. _

_Surprisingly enough, not many people know this beauty personally. The question lingers how she managed to snag one of the cities most successful and attractive men. But, those details can wait. We are only asking one question about this newly formed hit: when will we see her again?"_

Beth Turner was speechless for the most part, not because she was surprised or angered. Actually, she just couldn't wait to see the look on Vittoria De Luca's face when she finds out what this city thinks of her.

* * *

Sitting on the sofa belonging to one Josef Kostan, Vittoria found herself wondering where exactly she went wrong. She vowed never to consume any form of alcohol ever again, even though she knew the probability of that happening was very slim.

_It was just once and it's never going to happen ever again, _she thought to herself. She had been flipping though channels to keep herself from going insane or freaking out and staking Josef, who was on his laptop about five feet away from her. He was _still _shirtless, but she refused to feel even the bit surprised. He was too cocky for one single man.

Vittoria sighed, after deciding that there was absolutely nothing to do that would help pass the time until Brenda comes with her clothes. The moment Brenda gets here, she'll just grab the clothes and run. In her mind, it seemed like a perfect plan but, then again, she wasn't in her best mind condition.

Just then, Josef Kostan started to laugh. Struggling not to laugh too hard, he looked over at Vittoria, who was giving him a strange look. He reduced his laugh to a collection of small ones.

"Do I even want to know?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He smirked. "That depends. Do you want to hear what gossip websites think about you?"

Whatever look that was previously on her face disappeared in a split second.

She was instantly by Josef's side, reading over his shoulder.

"_At last night's charity event thrown by the ever so famous and, according to the women of Los Angeles, ever so attractive Josef Kostan. But, the spotlight wasn't on the host of this event, rather on who he had brought as his date. _

_Vittoria De Luca, age 28, was the outrageously rich man's plus one. As a reporter for The L.A. Scoop, this bombshell has spent most of her time in L.A. undercover and away from the spotlight. However, last night was her time to shine. Stepping into the event with a gorgeous man on her arm and a stunning, backless dress, she stole the spotlight right away. _

_Surprisingly enough, not many people know this beauty personally. The question lingers how she managed to snag one of the cities most successful and attractive men. But, those details can wait. We are only asking one question about this newly formed hit: when will we see her again?"_

Thankfully for Josef Kostan, there was a knock on the door before Vittoria actually came into reality (she was currently looking at the screen in complete and utter shock/embarrassment) and inflicted some form of pain on him.

He went to the door while Vittoria reread the article, still completely shocked and slightly annoyed… never mind, make that tremendously annoyed. A gossip website? They actually wrote about _her_?

"Brenda says hi," Josef informed her, coming back into the room with a stack of clothing that appeared to be jeans and some shirt. "By the way, you don't look 28, if that helps at all."

Vittoria sent him a look that suggested he shut up very quickly.

But, like always, he seemed to just brush off her silent death threat like it was nothing. "But I have to give it to them. 'Bombshell' is actually a very nice term for you."

"Shut up," she said, standing up and grabbing the clothes before he could pull them away from her. She headed into the bathroom, making sure she had locked the door tightly before changing. She quickly unbuttoned the white shirt, tossing it on the towel hanger before grabbing her jeans and slipping them on with haste. She covered up her torso and looked in the mirror, hoping she would look decent enough to walk out of her with the slightest of dignity.

When Vittoria left the bathroom, she found Josef in the kitchen, scrolling though his missed alerts in his phone.

"12 missed calls," he muttered, shaking his head disappointedly. "You'd think that he'd have better things to do in life."

"Did he leave with Beth last night?" she asked, curious for the first time today, wondering about where her friend ran off to last night.

He shrugged. "I assume he did, otherwise he wouldn't be calling this much."

"Can you hand me my phone?" Vittoria asked, unable to reach across the counter. Josef picked it up and handed it to her, making her flush as their hands made contact. She hoped that he didn't notice that. She scrolled though her phone, having only two missed calls, both from Beth.

She sighed. "2 missed calls from Beth."

"At least it was under 10," Josef said, switching his phone to silent before putting it down.

"Lucky me," she said, sliding her phone in her pocket so she wouldn't forget it here. "Well, as much fun as this has been, I better get going."

He smirked, obviously sensing the sarcasm in her voice. "Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'll get a cab," she said, standing up and heading to the door, fully aware of the person following her. He got there before her, opening the door and holding it open for her. Vittoria remembered the last time he had opened the door for her (could it have only been last night?).

"No goodbye?" he teased once she had stepped out of the doorway.

"Goodbye," she said in a slight monotone. She turned around and was about to take a step in the other direction when he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back. Before she could even register what had just happened, his lips were on hers.

Vittoria seemed to go completely and utterly insane at that moment because she did not push him away or anything like that nature. Instead, she found herself pushed back up against the doorframe, kissing him back. His hands made their way down to her waist while hers just rested on his chest.

Yes, she seemed to have lost her mind.

When he finally pulled away, much to her disappointment, she was met with a smirk. "Goodbye."

And that was another mistake on her part.


	24. Meaningful is the Word of the Day

I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! School has been crazy busy and there has been a lot of boy drama between my friends.

However, I am now on spring break (WOO!) and I will be updating more!

Thank you everyone who has favorited, messaged me, and reviewed the story!!!!!

Please Read&&Review!!!!!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except Vittoria and those you do not know!**

* * *

Mick St. John was riding up the elevator of Josef Kosan's apartment. He knew that he was mostly at his office and usually never at his apartment but after hearing from one of his staff members that he didn't show up for work, it was the only other place he'd be… maybe.

Mick was in need of seeing his friend for two reasons. One was to make sure he was alive and to ask him about his date and the other reason was all about Beth. The thought of her made him remember that he, once again, managed to screw up _and _look like an idiot in front of her. And although he had basically ran away, he was still in earshot to hear Beth's response to his stupidity.

When the elevator stopped at Josef's floor, Mick stepped out only to nearly run into the last person he'd expect.

"Vittoria?" he asked, very shocked to see her here, at all places.

She groaned. "Shit Mick! Why must you be here?"

"What are you doing here at Josef's apartment building?" Mick asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Her hair was messy and her clothes looked like they were thrown on. She had on dark red heels, no doubt the same ones she had worn the pervious night. On top of everything, she was slightly out of breath.

"I wasn't. Actually, I was never here," Vittoria replied, stepping into the elevator and hitting the lobby floor button. Unfortuneally for Mick, the elevator door closed before he could ask her anything else. But he wasn't too disappointed. After all, there was someone much more willing to answer his questions about five doors down the hall.

Not two minutes after Vittoria De Luca left, did Josef Kostan hear a knock on his door. Curious, he walked back over to the door, half expecting it to be Vittoria with a wooden stake. Instead, he opened the door to find himself looking at his dear friend, Mick.

"Mick! Why am I not surprised to see you here?" Josef exclaimed, opening the door wider for him. He closed the door after Mick had come in.

Mick looked at Josef, taking to mind his friend's lack of shirt, before speaking. "You'll never guess who I saw when I got out of the elevator."

"Who?" Josef smirked, already knowing the answer to this question.

"Your date," he answered, even though he assumed Josef already knew who it was, "which makes me wonder if I even want to know why she was here in the first place."

"You probably don't, but we'll worry about that later," he replied, his smirk widening. "So, how was your night?"

Mick sighed. "What do you mean?"

"Did you have sex with her?" Josef said, bluntly. He knew Mick wouldn't be happy with his chose of words, let alone how he delivered it.

"Do you have to say it like _that_?" Mick complained, taking a seat on the sofa. He couldn't even kiss her, let alone go all the way.

"Like what?"

Mick put his head in his hands, closing his eyes as he spoke, his voice slightly muffled. "I don't know, just the way you worded it sounded so… meaningless."

"Let me try again: So, did you and Beth make love together in the most meaningful way imaginable?" Josef answered, his tone dripping with sarcasm that Mick didn't miss.

Mick brought his head out from his hands, leaning back into the sofa, sending a nasty look towards Josef. "Do it _always _have to be physical with you? Is it impossible to like someone _without _sleeping with them?"

"Yes, but sex makes it more fun and, despite what you might say, meaningful," Josef replied, heading off to the kitchen for some blood. He still hadn't quite recovered from a night without a freezer and Vittoria certainly hadn't helped cool him down.

Mick rolled his eyes at his friend's retreating figure. "So you getting laid last night was meaningful?"

"It ways you'll never imagine," Josef said, walking back in the room with two glasses of blood, figuring that Mick would want some. He handed it to Mick before continuing. "So, how was your night? I didn't get a chance to talk."

Mick took a sip before sighing. "To be honest, I don't know. I mean, eh. It just seemed so much more… meaningful in the moment, you know?"

"Not really," he said, after talking a large sip.

"I don't know, it's just hard to explain it if you haven't felt it before," Mick went on, already assuming before hand that Josef would have no idea what he was referring to. He decided to change the subject, figuring that he wouldn't be getting any good advice today. "So, how was your night? You know, besides the whole one night stand with the reporter."

Josef smirked slightly. "Can't complain, although I wish you wouldn't use the term 'one night stand'."

"Why?" Mick asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend's suspicious smirk.

"Because it might not happen just once," Josef explained, a mischievous glimmer flashed in his eyes before disappearing.

Mick rolled his eyes, disgusted at his friend's suggestiveness and perhaps even a bit jealous of his confidence. "Did you find out anything about her? Anything that would confirm she isn't going to kill you in bed?"

"Well," Josef started, taking a relatively long time, drawing out the word almost as if to stall, "she's 28 - or at least that's what she claims to be nowadays - and, well, I can't tell you much more than that… unless you would like to hear all the dirty details."

"I'll pass," Mick said immediately.

Josef smirked a bit at him before his face fell a bit. "However, there was something odd that I found out.

"What?"

Josef finished off what small amount was felt in his glass before answering Mick. "Last night I noticed something on her hip. At first I thought it was a tattoo, but it was raised skin, not flat, normal skin like you'd feel with a tattoo. It was a brand of some sort."

"A brand?" Mick asked, confused. "You mean a brand like the kind you use on livestock? Stick metal in the fire and touch their skin, kind of brand?"

"Believe it or not, but that's exactly what it was. It was some kind of design. It looked relatively familiar though," Josef explained, shrugging his shoulders.

Mick took a drink before responding. "So, is that why you want to see her again? To figure out what it means?"

Josef looked at him funny. "Despite what you might think, that's a small, barely there reason why I want to see her again. You wouldn't know though, since you and Beth aren't - what's the phrase? - sexually active."

"By the way," Mick said loudly, ignoring (or at least trying to) Josef's jab, "what makes you think she'll want to see you again?"

Josef reached into his pocket, holding up the small black object like it was an Olympic gold metal. "Because I took her phone."

Mick looked at the phone, then at Josef, and finally scoffed. "Idiot."

Vittoria De Luca did not notice that her phone had disappeared. In fact, it wasn't until later that night she realized it was even gone.

After she had her encounter with Mick while trying to get on the elevator, she did everything in her power to get out of that building as quickly as possible. That included refusing to let the two floors with people waiting get onto the elevator, running into the doorman (accidentally, of course.), and taking a cab from a rather serious man.

Vittoria, once she had arrived at her apartment, threw cash at the cab driver before basically sprinting into her building. The sun was out, the temperature was deadly, and she was dying for a glass of blood. She didn't say anything to her over-friendly doorman, running to the elevator as if some sort of terrible beast was following her. She stood as far away from the other two people, a middle-age woman and a business man, as humanly possible. Vittoria used every ounce of will power she had to not attack these two people and drain them dry. She really didn't want to have to clean up a mess right now.

When the elevator dinged, she ran out of the elevator, knowing fully well that this was not her floor, and hurried into the hallway. She turned right and went to the stair passage and decided it would be much safer, and easier, if she would just take the stairs.

Vittoria finally made it to her apartment, shoving the key in rather viciously and yanking it open. The door slammed shut as she raced to the kitchen for a glass (or five) of blood.

When Vittoria had basically drained a human with all the blood she consumed, she decided that it would be best if she spent the rest of the day in her freezer. She didn't want to deal with anything right now. She just wanted cold, cold air on her body.

And so Vittoria slept though the rest of the day, her mind wandering though vast moments of nothing to her previous nighttime visitor. As much as she hated to admit - and not that she would admit it out loud - she kind of sort of enjoyed the night… that is, when she was so drunk she had no idea what she was doing.

Vittoria probably would have slept for the rest of the night, however, she was interrupted by a very loud, forceful knock on her apartment door.

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**REVIEW!!!!!!!!! Oh and Happy Easter (tomorrow that is)!**


	25. Confessing to the Crime

Oh my God, I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! It's been what, like 3 months?

Anyways, really, really, _really _sorry for that! I've been so busy with... life in general! Hahaha, but I will do my very best to update as soon as possible!

Thank you to everyone who has been sending me messages, reviewing the chapters, and all the alerts and favorites!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any characters except for Vittoria and those you don't know!**

* * *

Vittoria De Luca nearly hit the top glass of her freezer as she was startled by the very loud, forceful knock on her apartment door. She managed to exit her freezer and put her clothes on as fast as she could before whoever was on the other side of the door could knock it down.

She hurried out of her bedroom and into the living room where the knocks got increasingly louder. She swung open the door and felt her stomach drop to the floor.

"Oh, Beth," she said, taking in the angry face and overall presence of the blond woman. Beth must have driven here the moment work let out. "I can explain-"

"Are you serious! I must have called you at least ten times today and you couldn't answer one of them?" Beth ranted, inviting herself into her apartment.

Vittoria sort of stood there, taking a scolding like a young child. Did she hear what Beth was saying? Yes and no. She was mostly repeating herself so the first sentence kind of told her all she needed to know about where this convocation was going. Beth was incredibly mad at her for a couple of reasons, the most predominant one right now had to be for not answering her phone.

However, she really couldn't complain about getting in trouble with her friend. After keeping her date a mystery to Beth for a week, she shows up at the party with not only the host of the event but one of the biggest men in L.A. And then, of course, the whole "disappear for 24 hours without any indication that she was alive."

"And on top of everything," Beth said, snapping her attention and coming to a closing after a very, very, _very_ long list of reasons why she was angry, "you didn't tell _me _- your friend who confides in you for advice - that Josef Kostan was your date?"

Vittoria spoke after a moment of silence. "Can I explain?"

"Fine," Beth said, taking a seat on the sofa, arms crossed, with an angry expression masking a curious one.

"First off, my phone hasn't rang once today since ten o'clock, my cell phone that is. But, I'm sorry anyways," Vittoria said, trying to remember if she had heard her phone rang. The last time it rang was when Lisa called, but she had answered that one at Josef's apartment. Agh, did she seriously just say that sentence in such a… "I don't absolutely hate my one night stand" kind of tone?

Beth raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding me, right? Let me see your phone, I swear to God I called you about a million times."

"Okay, fine. But I'm telling you, it hasn't rang," Vittoria said, walking over to where her phone usually was, which in this case would have been on the kitchen counter, but it wasn't there. She checked her purse but had the same result as the kitchen counter. She even went as far as checking by her freezer but had no such luck. She tried to recall what she did when she got to her apartment, but could only remember trying _not _to kill everything and anything that breathes.

"Where the hell could it be?" she muttered to herself, checking another purse, even though she knew that it wouldn't be there seeing as the last time she used that purse, she had just moved to L.A. Vittoria could have sworn that she had put her phone into her back pocket once Josef had handed it to her - .

But then it hit her.

"God damn it," she said, loud enough for Beth to hear her.

"What is it?" Beth called back as she entered the living room, looking rather annoyed.

Vittoria closed her eyes, trying to imagine herself mentally strangling him with a very satisfying success. "My phone is gone but I know where it is."

Beth blinked, slightly confused. "Well, where is it?"

"Um, I'll explain that later. My point is, I left my phone somewhere so that's why I didn't get your calls," Vittoria said, searching through her day, trying to figure out when he could have taken her phone. There was only an hour time frame when he could have grabbed it, but then again, she was ninety-nine percent sure that she had it on her when she changed into the clothes Brenda brought over.

"Fine," Beth sighed, "then explain how Josef Kostan became your date!"

"Well, that's kind of a long story," Vittoria admitted, hoping that she wouldn't have to explain it to Beth. The last thing she needs is for her to know exactly what happened over the past week or so.

"I've got all night," Beth said, refusing to let this go. She had already lost the phone argument and she wasn't ready to let this one go as easily.

Vittoria sighed. "Alright. Well, a few weeks back, I had to do this interview on him - this was before you started to work at The L.A. Scoop - and we got to know each other, just mindless flirtation, nothing serious. And then he asked me to be his date so I said yes, because who wouldn't? And I didn't want to tell you because I didn't exactly know how."

Vittoria knew that her 'story' was the biggest load of bullshit she had ever said (the only other time that could have come close was when she had argued her way out of a parking ticket a year ago). They got to know each other better? Well, they did but it was through a web of confusion, annoyance, and fighting. And, of course, the whole sex thing.

If Beth actually fell for this story, she would eat her foot.

Thankfully for her foot, Beth replied. "I don't believe a word you just said, but I'll take it. For now, that is."

"So, er, how was your night?" Vittoria asked, desperate to change the topic. The last thing she needed was for Beth to not only find out how and why Josef Kostan became her date, but also what exactly happened last night. Vittoria was sure that Beth would, being her nosy information hound self, eventually find out but she was going to do everything in her power to make that harder than necessary.

Beth sighed, knowing fully well that she was just trying to change the subject. But, since she was dying to talk to a woman about her day, she caved. "Last night was indescribably perfect. This morning, however, was an absolute disappointment."

"How so?" Vittoria asked, rather curious as to what Mick could have done to make Beth so… bland in answering. Normally, she would have been bouncing off the wall with details - both good and bad - but now she felt as if she had to literally force the answers out of her friend.

"Everything was perfect. The timing, the place, the day. _Everything._ But, for whatever unknown reason, he couldn't follow through and just kiss me," Beth explained, adding the last part for Vittoria's sake, whose eyebrows had shot up faster than they had in quite sometime.

"When did you see him this morning?" Vittoria asked, not wanting to admit that she wasn't all that surprised that Mick hadn't followed through. She was sure half of it was because of the whole 'She's a human, I'm a vampire' deal and half of it was because he was scared of his emotions.

Beth blushed slightly. "Well, I sort of stayed over at his place. Nothing happened, of course! We just stayed up late talking and he thought it would be good if I stayed over at his apartment."

The idea of kissing in apartments made Vittoria's mind flash to the beginning of her day and exactly what happened on her way out of the door. Of course, she was still trying to convince herself that that never happened.

"Oh, I see," Vittoria said, forcing herself to think about Beth and her problems rather than her own. "But he didn't kiss you, right?"

She sighed again, the kind of sigh you make when you are disappointed, which she obviously was. "Nope. Not even a kiss on the cheek."

"I'm sorry Beth," Vittoria said, rather sincerely, putting a reassuring hand on her slightly tanned arm. It now made sense why Mick had gone over to Josef's apartment, no doubt because of what had happened between him and Beth this morning. She was actually kind of glad that she had this kind of blackmail on him… actually, there wasn't much blackmail so she was, basically, right back where she started. "I know how much you like him."

Beth gave her a half real - half fake smile. "Thank you, but I don't want to talk about Mick anymore. I actually want to know where you were last night."

And just like that, the spotlight had been turned on her once again.

"W-What exactly do you mean?" Vittoria stuttered, a bit surprised by Beth's sudden change in direction.

Beth rolled her eyes. "Come on, I saw you two leave last night. I want to know what happened, although something tells me I already know."

"If I tell you, will you promise not to tell a soul?" Vittoria asked, sighing in defeat. She figured that if she didn't tell her, she would probably just hear from Mick about how he saw her leave Josef's apartment earlier that morning.

"I promise."

Vittoria sighed. "Do you remember that time I went over to your house and we - well, mostly you - had a couple of drinks and got a little drunk?"

"Yes, wasn't that the night I kissed Mick at the door?" Beth wondered out loud, recalling that night with slight embarrassment.

She nodded. "More like made out with him but that's beside the point. Anyways, I was in that situation last night, kind of."

"So what, you had a hot and heavy make out session with Josef Kostan?"

Vittoria winced. "Something like that."

"_Wow_," Beth said, her eyes wide with curiosity. It seemed almost impossible and quite strange to think of the two of them even dating, let alone doing something physical… actually, she probably should have switched the two of those, "were you drunk or tipsy or sober?"

"I was very, very, _very _drunk," Vittoria answered almost instantly.

Beth couldn't help but grin - just a little bit. "So, what happened after that?"

And suddenly, Vittoria found herself in a very awkward position.

"Well…" she started but stopped, trying to figure out what exactly she was going to say. On one hand, it was quite obvious what had happened last night. Beth knew that they had left together so it wasn't as if she could have explained that without feeling any embarrassment. She was also quite sure that Josef had told Mick, which meant that it would all somehow get back to Beth.

On the other hand, well, she would be admitting to having slept with the one and only Josef Kostan.

Beth raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Just spit it out."

Beth knew that she was being slightly insensitive but she was nearly one hundred percent sure that something a bit more intimate than "making out" had happened last night. She wanted Vittoria to feel like she could talk to her and tell her anything, or maybe she just wanted her friend to feel a bit embarrassed. More than anything, she just hated being kept in the dark. Especially when it came to things like this.

Vittoria let out an angry sigh. "Fine, we had sex. Happy?"

"I'm glad you told me," Beth said, sweetly.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, that would also be the reason why I wasn't at work today."

"So, did you leave your phone at Josef's place, then?" Beth asked, trying to block out the mental image of her friend and Mick's friend doing other dirty things.

"Yeah, something like that," Vittoria muttered. She was glad that she was able to get that off her chest, but at the same time she still hated admitting that she made a mistake. And Josef Kostan was a very big mistake… well, _a _mistake.

A silence fell upon the two of them until it was interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing. Seeing as Vittoria's cell phone was in the possession of a very attractive yet incredibly annoying man, she knew that it was Beth's the moment it rang.

"Hello?" Beth answered, giving Vittoria a look that basically told her to stay where she was. As her facial expression changed from relaxed, to confused, to excited, Beth walked over and grabbed her shoes, showing some indication that she had to leave or was, at least, going to leave.

"Where are you going?" Vittoria asked, raising an eyebrow as Beth slipped on her shoes, already having hung up the phone.

Beth sighed. "My friend just got engaged and she wants me to go over and congratulate her or something."

"Oh, give her my congratulations as well," Vittoria said, feeling very grateful for which ever one of Beth's friends had interrupted her interrogation.

Beth rolled her eyes and headed for the door. "Fine, I'll let it go for the next couple of hours."

"Whatever you say," Vittoria said, holding the door open so Beth could leave and _(hopefully)_ forget that such a convocation ever happened.

"Oh, and Vittoria?" Beth said, having already walked out into the hallway, she turned to face her, a sly grin on her face. "Mick told me what you are. Well, actually, it kind of slipped out. Guess it's one less thing you'll have to explain."

Vittoria De Luca found herself standing next to the door, mouth wide open (as was the door), trying to mentally plan the demise of Mick St. John.


	26. And So the Games Begin

Okay, new FanFiction goal: update every Tuesday, let's see how that works out!

So, I'm pissed off that school starts in 3 weeks but, on the bright side, I can get a lot of daydreaming in during class! Haha, just kidding there's no bright side to highschool.

Thank you everyone who messaged me & reviewed the last chapter (and that would be _a lot_ of you!)

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except Vittoria and those you don't know!**

* * *

Mick St. John was still at Josef Kostan's apartment at the exact moment when Beth Turner informed Vittoria De Luca that her biggest secret had been exposed.

"Okay," Josef said, sitting on the chair opposite of the sofa where his friend, Mick, was, "explain to me again why you did not kiss Beth."

They had not been talking about Beth all day. They had gotten off the subject of women for a couple of hours, talking about their usual topics. Mick's "woe is me" drabble went on for an hour, Josef's "you really should invest in freshies" rant went on for quite a while, and the other miscellaneous things that came up. Needless to say, they had spent enough time off-topic to get back onto the topic of the women in their life.

Mick sighed and gave the same answer he had said about twenty times. "I have no idea."

"Mick, buddy," Josef said, leaning forward, his forearms resting on his knees, "you've been saying that for the past thirty minutes. You want to try a different four-word combination to explain why you didn't follow through?"

Sighing for the hundredth time this day, Mick replied. "I can't explain it."

"I wasn't serious about the whole 'four-word combination'. I meant that you should look inside your very cramped and confusing mind for the answer," Josef said, rolling his eyes at his friend.

Josef felt bad for Mick, but if he kept giving him four words every time he asked a question, he was going to stake him.

"Haven't you ever done something and have no idea why you did it?" Mick asked, putting his face in his hands, exhausted.

"Such as?"

"I don't know, like… okay, why did you steal Vittoria's phone? Can you explain that?" Mick responded, looking up from his hands.

Josef knew exactly why he had taken Vittoria's phone. He did it to make sure that she'd have to talk to him again. Something told him that Vittoria was the one to completely disappear after something like that and he wasn't quite through with her.

Not that he'd ever admit it to Mick, which is why he lied when he answered. "Okay, I get your point. However, I cannot help you out if you don't give me something to go with."

"Maybe I should get her something…" Mick said aloud, mostly to himself.

Josef chuckled. "And what exactly would you give her? A 'sorry I didn't kiss you this morning but will you still love me' card? I'm fairly certain they don't make those kinds of cards at Hallmark."

"No, I meant like a gift or something," Mick explained, knowing fully well that Josef already knew what he was talking about.

"Alright, how about… flowers? All women, human or other wise, love flowers," Josef suggested, leaning back in his chair.

Mick thought for a moment before replying. "What if I get the kind she hates? Or what if she's allergic to flowers? What's the most common flower allergy for humans?"

"Okay," Josef said, stopping Mick from actually going to Google such a question, "flowers are off the list. What about chocolate? I've heard human women love chocolate."

"But what if she thinks that I think she's fat - which she _clearly_ isn't - by giving her chocolate? Plus, what if she's allergic to chocolate?"

Josef scoffed and responded sarcastically. "Why don't you get her a little puppy with a big red bow around it's neck?"

"No, I'm pretty sure she's allergic to dogs."

Josef rolled his eyes. "Mick, I doubt there is a human - man or woman - out there that is allergic to every known substance on Earth."

"I know, I know. I just really don't want to mess this one up," Mick admitted, sighing in defeat.

Josef, feeling genuinely sorry for his friend, decided that he would stop being a smart-ass - for the time being - and help him figure out how to win Beth back, so to say.

"Okay, how about you take her out to dinner? Something nice, romantic, appealing," Josef replied, pouring himself a glass of what smelled like O+ from the side table.

"But what would I do? Just sit there while she enjoyed the food?"

Josef pondered over this. "Alright, then, why don't you cook her something? That way it would still have the same basic idea but you could do it at your place."

"That," Mick said, raising his hand in the air, "is a good idea."

He scoffed. "A _'good' _idea? It's a damn fantastic idea - if I do say so myself."

"Okay, so dinner," Mick started, actually somewhat excited for this, "what should I cook?"

Josef shrugged, grabbing his glass of O+, "Have am I suppose to know? It's been four hundred years since I ate something edible."

And so the conversation continued for a good twenty minutes. Mick finally decided on what he would cook and how he'd do it and so forth. He figured that this would be, if everything were to work out as he hoped, an acceptable apology for the failed attempt at a kiss (as Josef so kindly put it).

Mick was gathering his things and was getting ready to leave his friend's apartment after spending most of his day there. He had grabbed his phone and was heading over towards the door, when he remembered that he left his coat - which had his car keys - on one of the chairs in the kitchen. As he went to go get his coat from the kitchen, there was a knock on the door.

Josef went over to get the door, somewhat confused as to who, besides Mick, would be coming over to his apartment at this time of night. However, once he opened the door, his own confusion seemed to have gotten ten times worse.

"Vittoria, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Josef said, very surprised to see this woman standing outside his apartment. She looked exactly as she had this morning, which in plain terms meant she looked good. She was wearing the same clothing she felt in this morning. She even displayed the same agitated expression she showed this morning.

"Is Mick here?" she asked, a clear annoyance in her voice.

Josef raised an eyebrow, his confusion growing by each and every second that passed by. "Yes, but he was just about to leave."

Vittoria brushed past him and walked inside, adding to his confusion. She turned back to look at him, opening her mouth to say something, however she stopped when she heard footsteps approaching from behind her.

"I'll see you later Josef," Mick began to say, cutting short once he saw who was standing right in front of him, looking very, very angry. "Oh… hello Vittoria-"

Mick was once again cut short but this time it was because he found himself shoved up against a wall, a hand on his throat, face to face (or at least close enough to that) with a very, _very _angry vampire.

"Why the _hell_ did you tell Beth?" Vittoria hissed, her grip on him tightening. Her fangs were inching out from the rest of her teeth and she looked like she wouldn't think twice about snapping his neck. All in all, she looked extremely angry, but that was a pretty obvious observation.

"I have no idea what your talking about!" Mick managed to get out, despite the pressure that was being forced upon him by this very angry woman. Of course he knew what she was talking about, but he was really hoping that she would buy it, even though the chances of that were slim to none. And, if that logic failed, he could always blame the lack of blood flow to his brain.

Vittoria sent him a glare that made him rethink his answer. "You're a liar. You know _exactly _what I'm talking about!"

Before Vittoria could smash Mick into little tiny pieces, she felt two strong arms grab her around the waist and pull her off of him, preventing her from doing any of the harm she had planned on inflicting.

"So, which one of you would like to explain what's going on?" Josef said, holding Vittoria against him so she wouldn't try and kill Mick. He had her arms pinned to her side as he held onto her waist. He was still very confused, but he knew that he would never get any answers if he didn't do anything before Vittoria could cause some bodily harm to his friend.

Mick, who had fallen to the ground when Josef had pulled Vittoria off of him, was trying to get his footing as he stood up, slightly out of breath. "It's nothing, just… a little misunderstanding."

"I'm going to _kill _you!" Vittoria said, struggling against Josef's embrace, with no such luck. He was much stronger than he looked, which was the only reason why she wasn't following through with her statement. And that just annoyed her even more.

Mick sighed, figuring that it would be easier if he just gave up his 'innocent act'. Who knows, maybe she'd be a little more merciful. "Okay… I _might _have accidentally told Beth that she was a vampire."

"Will you _please_ let me go so I can kick his ass?" Vittoria asked Josef, who chuckled and tightened his grip on her. As much as he wanted to make her happy, he figured that letting her kill Mick would come back to haunt him.

"Why are you so angry?" Mick asked, taking a step back just incase she managed to escape Josef's embrace. "It's not like you could have kept it from her! She was going to find out anyways."

"It wasn't your secret to tell!" Vittoria growled, baring her fangs. "You had no right to tell her that!"

Vittoria went back to trying to break free from the two strong arms that had her trapped while Mick continued to take a step or two towards the door. Josef seemed to be the only one in the room who had not gone completely insane, or who was at least thinking straight.

"Alright, both of you stop for a minute," Josef said, causing Mick to stop inching towards the door, but he still looked very tempted to just bolt out the door. He was not surprised to see that Vittoria hadn't listened and was still continuing to struggle against him.

"Mick," Josef said, facing his friend with the slightest bit of amusement, "please apologize to Vittoria for telling Beth her secret."

Mick blinked. "What?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Vittoria said as she stopped struggling, turning her head to look at Josef with a confused look.

"I'm just trying to make peace," he said to the two confused vampires. "Mick, apologize."

Mick raised an eyebrow. "How old do you think I am? Four?"

"Mick, I don't think it's a good idea to stall this apology," Josef said, glancing down at Vittoria, who was glaring at Mick, having given up on trying to escape.

"I hope you know I won't forgive him," Vittoria piped in, still glaring at Mick.

Josef sighed. "So much for that. Alright, Mick, if I may make a suggestion?"

"Yes?"

"I'd go back to your apartment and make sure your doors are locked," he said, as Vittoria muttered something under her breath that neither could quite catch.

Mick didn't need to be told twice as he basically sprinted out of Josef's apartment, slamming the door on his way out. Not that he could blame him, Vittoria could be quite frightening when she wanted to. Although, Josef had to give it to him, that was the fastest exit he had seen his friend make in quite some time.

"Alright, if I let you go, will you promise not to hit me or anything like that?" Josef said once Mick was gone, probably already in the elevator. He wasn't completely sure if he wanted to let go of her yet, mostly because he was enjoying this current position too much.

Vittoria sighed. "I promise I won't hurt you."

And so Josef released her, and took a step back, just in case she were to go back on her promise. However, Josef didn't think she would. Something told him that her previous rage had now simmered down into just traces of annoyance. But he couldn't be too sure, he had been wrong before (although he would never admit it).

"Did you have to hold me so tight?" she asked, rubbing her arm that had been pinned down to her side when she had been yelling at Mick. Of course, she was over exaggerating. Yes, she did feel some pain when he had her in his grip, but not enough to make her cry, however, that didn't stop her from complaining.

Josef smirked slightly. "Well, I couldn't have you attack Mick. He is a delicate flower, after all."

"I suppose I should thank you for not letting me kill him," Vittoria admitted, trying to remove all traces of a small grin that was threatening to escape from his previous comment.

"I figured that you'd regret it later," he said, leaning against the back of the sofa. Vittoria took this moment to take him in, seeing as she had blown it off when she had gotten here. He was wearing a pair of simple black dress pants and a dark red button down shirt, no jacket or tie. She thought it was odd that he looked so… proper, even at his own apartment, but she certainly wasn't complaining.

Vittoria crossed her arms against her chest, letting out a small frustrated sigh. "I'm sure I would have, only because I would have felt horrible for killing the man Beth is in love with."

"She tell you that?" he asked, with a small, barely there smile.

"No, but she didn't have to," she said, masking his small, barely there smile. "It's kind of sad how obvious it is, not that I'd ever say that to her face."

"Of course not," he chuckled. "You know, I don't really think that Beth cares what you are, if that's what you're upset about."

"That's not why I was upset."

Josef raised an eyebrow, curiosity getting the better of him. "Well, then why did you go out of your way to nearly decapitate a man for telling your friend?"

Vittoria bit her lip, debating whether or not to answer. "I guess it just made me feel a little more normal. I could have a human friend that wouldn't be concerned about if I had fed lately or if them eating in front of me would somehow offend me. It's stupid, I know, but I liked it."

"I'm sorry," Josef responded after a moment or two of silence.

"Why are you apologizing? None of this is your fault," Vittoria asked, tilting her head to the side, puzzled.

Josef shrugged. "I didn't know what else to say. Apologizing seemed to be the only thing that came to mind."

"In that case, thank you," she replied, a smile dancing across her face.

"You're welcome."

There was a short silence before she spoke again. "I better get going. It's been quite a day."

"I can't argue with that," Josef said, pushing off the back of the sofa as Vittoria walked the short distance to the door. He managed to get there before her, holding the door open for her.

Vittoria took a step out of the door way, barely in the hallway before turning back around to face him, a mischievous glimmer in her hazel eyes. "What, no goodbye?"

"Goodbye," Josef said, feeling a brief moment of déjà vu. He just now noticed that, although she was in the hallway, there was very little room between the two of them.

Then, of course, it made sense.

Her lips were on his before he could have made any other move, then again, he wasn't quite sure what that move might have even been. He kissed her back, putting his confusion aside for a moment. While one hand held the edge of the door, the other found a way to the small of her back, resting there as her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him down to her short frame. It was very much like the kiss they shared earlier this day, which would have explained his previous feeling of déjà vu.

After quite sometime, although it felt like only seconds, Vittoria pulled away, smirking slightly at his puzzled face. "That was for this morning."

With that, Vittoria De Luca walked down the hallway to the elevator, leaving a very confused and oddly impressed Josef Kostan in the doorway, praying that that kiss was not _just _a revenge kiss.


	27. Arguements and Invitations

Looks like I managed to keep my promise and update again on Tuesday! I'm too proud of this, actually.

Two weeks until school starts, bah. These last two months went by waaaay too fast.

Anyways, thank you everyone who sent me messages, added the story to story alert/favorite, and reviewed! It means more than you'll ever know!

Hope you enjoy this one!

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Moonlight or any of the characters except for Vittoria and those you don't know!**

* * *

Beth Turner waited by the coffee cart a block away from the _L.A. Scoop _office building. She was sipping her coffee and trying to spot her friend, Vittoria De Luca, who she hadn't seen since Saturday night when she informed her that she knew exactly what she was. Beth was a little worried that she would be angry for her actions, however, Vittoria had called her apartment at some ungodly hour and told her to meet her at this coffee cart.

Tired of standing by herself, she walked the short distance to the small park behind the coffee cart and took a seat at one of the empty picnic tables. She sighed and checked her watch. 8:46am. They were due in the office in fourteen minutes and Beth really didn't want to get yelled at for being late, especially since had only half a day on Saturday (due to the amount of people out) and they didn't work on Sundays unless something _really _big went down.

Beth twisted around on her seat, turning around to scan the people walking to and from the coffee cart, searching for the familiar brunette with the same amount of luck she had minutes ago: none. She turned around and nearly spilled coffee on herself.

Sitting across from her, wearing what appeared to be a vintage looking t-shirt and a black cardigan, was Vittoria De Luca, grinning like a fool.

"You scared the hell out of me!" Beth finally managed to spit out, still a bit shocked from the sudden company.

Vittoria grinned. "Blame my crafty vampire skills."

"So, you're _not _mad at me? You know, for telling you that I knew?" Beth asked, wording the question carefully. She was very confused, seeing as the last time she saw her, she was shocked as all get out. Now she seemed very… relaxed.

"Why would I be mad at you? I dealt with it," Vittoria responded, shrugging. The truth was that she was mad - not at Beth - and she was still a little pissed that Beth now knew her secret. However, she did deal with it when she dropped by Josef's apartment and scared the life out of Mick St. John.

Beth raised an eyebrow, obviously very confused at her friend's sudden change in personality. "Then why did you demand that I wait for you here by the coffee cart?"

Vittoria shrugged again. "Because you're my friend and I wanted to see you?"

"I'll take that for now," Beth said, grabbing her coffee and standing up, "come on, if we don't hurry, we'll be late and that's the last thing I want to be today."

Vittoria flashed her a pain look but got up from the picnic table and followed her to the sidewalk, staying behind her. The last thing Vittoria wanted to be today was at work, but she had expected the fact that maybe she deserved this fate.

"So, have you heard from Mick since the apartment doorway incident?" Vittoria asked as they walked down the sidewalk, the faintest of smirks on her face.

Beth blushed, but only a bit. "No and I really wish you wouldn't refer to that as the 'apartment doorway incident'."

"Why not? It's just a description of what happened," Vittoria said innocently, moving closer to Beth to avoid running into a business man with a paper in his face. "Do we need a code name for that too?"

"No," Beth said, rolling her eyes, "we do not need a code name. When have we ever had code names for _anything_?"

"Uh, when you got drunk that one night and kissed Mick at the door? The following day you refused to say his name, we had a codename," Vittoria explained, a grin forming on her face.

Beth grimaced. "I thought we agreed to never talk about that ever again."

"I don't recall."

At this time, they were roughly five and a half minutes away from the _L.A. Scoop _office building and Vittoria could feel the tension within her raising and raising with every step she took.

Beth sighed after they had been walking in silence for a minute or two. "This is fantastic. What am I suppose to do the next time I see Mick? Forget that I'm angry and act like it never happened? Or should I ignore him? Or punch him?"

"I'd personally would love to see you take a shot at Mick St. John," Vittoria said, grinning slightly.

"Seriously," Beth whined, disposing of her half finished coffee cup at one of the nearby trashcans, "it's too much awkwardness for one relationship!"

They had arrived at the _L.A. Scoop _office building, which was buzzing with excitement from even this far away. People were rushing up and down the steps, trying to get a lead on a story or just trying not to be late.

Vittoria sighed, stopping in her tracks and turned to face Beth. "Beth, we are about to walk into the saddest excuse of a reporting station in L.A. _I _have to walk into the saddest excuse of a reporting station in L.A."

"Okay?" Beth said, raising an eyebrow, "You've lost me."

Vittoria sighed again. "Everyone in the office has probably been on their computer within some time from Friday night to this morning."

"You've lost me yet again."

"Read anything interesting on the Internet lately?" Vittoria snapped, rolling her eyes. She didn't mean to be so harsh, but honestly, this day was going to be one sent first class from hell.

Beth paused for a moment and then started to laugh.

Vittoria sighed for a third time. "Yes, go ahead. Laugh it up."

"I'm sorry, really I am," Beth said, trying to control her laughter, "I'm just surprised I didn't get it earlier that's all."

"I hate you. I hate myself. And I hate the fact that I agreed to go to that damn charity event with Josef Kostan!"

Beth put a hand on her friend's shoulder, her laughing fit now completely over. She did feel sorry for her, but she couldn't help but think of it as evening the playing fields. "I'm sorry, I know you're upset. However, I advise not attacking all of your co-workers."

Vittoria glanced up at the _L.A. Scoop _office building before looking back at Beth. "Let's just get this over with."

Although Vittoria was the one whop suggested that they "just get this over with", it took Beth a reasonable amount of time getting her up the stairs and into the main lobby. Once they were in there for what couldn't have been more than five seconds, Beth suddenly realized exactly _why _Vittoria hadn't wanted to come into the L.A. Scoop office building.

And, boy, did she feel sorry for her.

"_Vittoria De Luca!" _a shrill voice called from clear on the other side of the lobby.

Vittoria, who had been walking at a rather fast pace, came to a complete and total stop. "Why God, why?"

Beth turned around and saw Vittoria closing her eyes and muttering a few more curses under her breath, followed by the approaching figure of a woman who certainly had too much coffee. This woman was also known as their boss - Lisa.

"We need to talk," Lisa rushed out, about three feet away from Vittoria, who was still cursing the day she was born and still had her back turned.

"Of course we do," Vittoria said, rolling her eyes and fighting the urge to jump out of one of the lobby windows. "But now is not a good time."

Beth nodded her head, entering in on this conversation. "Really not a good time."

"Couldn't be a worse time actually," Vittoria added, her back still turned and was looking at Beth as if begging her to distract Lisa long enough for her to jump out of on of the lobby windows.

By now, there was a small… okay, a moderately large group of people gathering around to see the event that was about to take place. Most of them were obviously reporters, some of them even went far enough to get out notebooks and pencil and were probably debating if they would take the risk of write this all down and publish it. After all, Beth was pretty sure that just about everyone in the building had read the article about Vittoria from the gossip website.

"Oh no, don't even think about trying to escape answering this!" Lisa said, crossing her arms as if to show that she had all the authority in this situation. Beth wondered how much courage Lisa would have interrogating Vittoria if she knew about the fangs.

Vittoria finally turned around to face her boss. "Answering what, exactly?"

Beth had to give it to Vittoria, she was really quite intimidating when she wanted to be, however, she didn't think that her last question was the best one because now Lisa would explain what she meant, which basically translated to…

"How, in the name of all that is worth something in this world, did _the _Josef Kostan become _your _date?"

Although Lisa didn't yell, she had a naturally deafening voice, which meant that everyone in the main lobby could hear what she was saying. Which also meant that everyone who didn't know about the article (which was only a handful of people) now knew what it was about. Hell, even the mail man now knew that Vittoria De Luca had something going on the side with Josef Kostan.

If Vittoria was embarrassed, she masked it perfectly. "Gosh, Lisa, you didn't know? I work part-time at an escort service."

Lisa glared, clearly annoyed that she wasn't going to get a start up answer from her. "Uh-huh, if I didn't know you I would have thought you were serious."

"Is she really an escort? 'Cause that would explain why she's so skinny." a woman, who had to be at least as five years younger than Beth and three times as blonde, whispered rather loudly from within the crowd of people that had gathered around for the event. Beth rolled her eyes and was about to say something regarding her comment, but a certain brunette beat her to it.

Vittoria whipped her head around and faced the crowd, signaling out who it was the moment she turned, which Beth thought was pretty damn impressive. "Yes Joanna, I really am. In fact, I had your boyfriend over last night. You never mentioned that he had a tattoo."

And that was the last time Beth heard Joanna make any sound other than an intake of air every couple of seconds. Like she had said before, Vittoria could be scary as hell.

"_Ahem!" _Lisa coughed, glaring at Vittoria who was still sending mental death threats to Josef Kostan, the gods, and Joanna. And, of course, everyone who was here to witness this.

Vittoria turned back around. "Okay, I'll say it once : everyone in this building needs to stay out of my personal life. What I do outside of here, is none of your damn business. So leave me the hell alone, because the only way you'd get some trashy _'story' _out of me, is when I'm lying dead in a coffin six feet underground!"

Beth decided it would now be a good idea to grab her friend and take her to the stairs, because there was no way in hell Beth was going to wait for an elevator. Plus, she was pretty sure that Vittoria was going to attack the next thing that breathes.

"Okay, well, there you have it. Ummm, yeah, we'll just be going now… have a nice day," Beth said to the crowd, stumbling over her own words.

She grabbed Vittoria's arm and dragged her over to the fire escape stairs, figuring that only a true idiot would follow them and ask a question. Thankfully for Beth, Vittoria didn't resist, which was good because Beth would have had no chance of dragging an angry vampire to the fire escape stairs.

Once they were in the stairwell, Beth made sure the door was secured and that no suicidal reporters had followed them. She then looked over at her friend, who was sitting on one of the steps, forearms on her knees, and a look mean enough to scare a grown biker man. Or, at least, that's what Beth saw.

"Okay, I'm just going to spit it out," Beth started, putting her hands up in front of her, as if to show that she meant no harm, "you're not really an escort, right?"

Beth could have swore she saw the faintest of grins on Vittoria's face, but she wasn't willing to risk her life on it. "No, I'm not an escort."

"Then how'd you know about Joanna's boyfriend's tattoo?" Beth asked, very glad that Vittoria didn't jump off the stairs and snap her neck at her previous question.

Vittoria grinned, but only slightly. "I didn't, but I figured that Joanna would be the type of whore who went after guys with tattoos. And I sure as hell didn't know _where _it was."

Even Beth couldn't help but smile. "Looks like you got lucky."

Vittoria sighed. "Not lucky enough. If I was lucky, then I would have suddenly burst into flames and died. Since neither happened, I'm not all that lucky."

Beth glanced down at the watch on her wrist. 9:12am. "On the bright side, you only have to last through… seven hours of work. Then you can feel free to hide yourself under a rock."

"I hate Mondays," Vittoria moaned, burying her face in her hands.

Six hours and forty-eight minutes later, Vittoria De Luca and Beth Turner went their separate ways: Beth to go to her apartment and Vittoria to go find a rock to hide under, or someone to kill.

Beth got into her car, which she had parked in one of the cheaper parking lots a block away from the L.A. Scoop, and stuck the key into the ignition, listening to the sound of the engine starting up. She was tired, hungry, and (as per usual) confused. Her and Vittoria had to endure seven hours of a slow work day, the only thrill coming when some very brave reporter (who was younger than them) would try and ask Vittoria a question regarding Mr. Josef Kostan and she would kindly tell them to fuck off. She hadn't eaten anything at lunch besides a bag of chips, so it was no surprise that she was extremely hungry. And, well, when isn't she confused?

Beth had gotten onto the streets, slowing down as she approached a red light, when her cell phone rang through the silence of her car.

She grabbed her phone out of the cup holder and off of its charger before answering. "Hello?"

"_Hey Beth, it's me… Mick."_

Of course it was Mick, how could she not figure that one out for herself? He was the only thing she had been thinking about since… a couple weeks back. Rather than take the 'I'm so in love with you' path (which had screwed her over a couple times in the past), Beth decided to do a much more traditional approach with this phone call, which was 'I want to strangle you' path.

"What do you want Mick?" Beth sighed, stepping on the gas when the light, which she had been paying no attention to, turned green.

There was an awkward cough in the background, followed by someone hissing _"Say something!"._

"Mick?" Beth asked, pretty sure that her tone might have come off a little too strong.

"_Yes, I'm sorry, I really am. For everything. And that's why I called. I, uh, want to make it up to you," _Mick explained after he managed to regain control of the situation.

Now _that_ got her attention. "And what exactly did you have in mind?"

There was yet another moment of silence after Mick made some kind of strangled noise and that same someone hissed _"I don't think she meant it like that!"_

"Mick?" Beth asked, once again. She wasn't really annoyed as much as she was concerned. What the hell was wrong with him?

"_Dinner, my place. Thursday."_

Well, at least he spit it out.

Beth found herself smiling. "You're going to cook me dinner?"

"_Well, I'm going to try," _he admitted.

Beth thought for a moment. "Okay, I will accept your invitation on one condition."

"… _what's the condition?" _Mick asked, after a moment of hesitation.

"Who is that that I keep hearing in the background?" Beth asked, grinning. There was no way she would turn Mick down (or dinner) but she figured that she might as well have a little fun with a nervous man such as Mick.

There was silence, but Beth could hear two men arguing in the background.

"_Way to go, Josef! She heard you!" _Mick said, his voice sounding further away, like he was holding the phone from arms length away.

"_Well, I wouldn't have had to speak if you hadn't froze up!" _the mystery voice said, who had turned out to be Josef. She could see him rolling his eyes at Mick, who would probably be shaking his head right about now.

"_Sorry about that," _Mick said, his voice much louder than it was a second ago. _"The voice in the background was Josef. He, er, dropped by."_

Beth laughed. "I'm sure he did. Well, how could I say no to such an invitation? What time on Thursday?"

"_Why don't you come over around six?" _Mick answered.

"Alright, six o'clock, Thursday, your place. I think I can remember all that," Beth said, smiling, "I'll see you on Thursday. Goodbye Mick."

"_Goodbye Beth," _he said before the two of them hung up.

Beth shook her head, smiling. She plugged the charger back into her phone and set it in the cup holder. She looked out at the road and found herself feeling quite giddy inside, like a young child who was awaiting Christmas morning.

Beth sighed. "Thursday couldn't come fast enough."


End file.
